Harper's Excellent Adventures
by Ivette Boveda
Summary: This is a Harper-centered fic, where Harper helps revolutionaries, and gets gets involved withmysterious aliens, who are rather demanding. note- he is back to his old self again. Finally! Chapter 19 has been done..more to come soon!
1. Chapter 1

Harper, was doing his shift in command with Beka, when he asked,  
  
"Hey where's Dylan? I haven't seen him, in like days"  
  
"He's in his quarters" Beka answered as she was pushing various buttons on the consoles.  
  
"Are you sure? For all we know, he coulda gone AWOL, to go to Asir, that paradise planet." he said jokingly.  
  
"Dylan is in his quarters, with the privacy mode on" Andromeda the ship replied.  
  
So, for fun, Harper, turned on his favorite "swing song' and did some dancing.  
  
"Whoo hoo! I can't wait until I go to Wango Tango drift!" he said as he danced.  
  
"That's a week from now Harper." Holo-Andromeda reminded him.  
  
"So?"  
  
Later, he decided went to work on his pet project, the X-1. On one hand it was a pity that he had forgotten all the knowledge he had of it, but on the other, he liked the challenge of figuring the stuff out.  
  
Suddenly, a rather unshaved, Dylan with uncombed hair came in.  
  
"Hey"  
  
"Hey boss. What brings you here?"  
  
"Just wanted to see how things were going with everyone"  
  
"I see."  
  
"and ask you about your contact with an anti government revolutionary on Jima"  
  
"What makes you think I did that?" Harper was getting nervous. He had been contacted by them, and had found himself liking Corrina, who told him about the group.  
  
"I have my ways" Dylan said.  
  
"Well.. he.. or she was mistaken."  
  
"My source of information is reliable. What did they ask of you?"  
  
"Nothing, cause I didn't meet them." In reality, he had started to feel sorry for what the government's persecution of them, and liked some of their goals. He had helped them get some supplies, and fixed some stuff for them.  
  
"Damn it, Harper, I need to be able to protect all of us, if the Jima government finds out."  
  
"Nah they won't, cause nothing happened!"  
  
Dylan just glared at him  
  
"Either you tell me about what happened between you and the revolutionary group, or I'll confine you to quarters"  
  
"All right, I like helped them with some minor stuff"  
  
"I see" Harper was noticing that Dylan was giving him that glare. "Why in the hell were you doing this?"  
  
"Cause I felt sorry for them. The Gogites, are, a mistreated minority"  
  
"The Gogites have full legal equality"  
  
"Legal smegal, it doesn't mean squat. They still don't have the same opportunities. Corrina says that.."  
  
"Oh I see, you risk a much needed alliance, just for a woman. What if a man had told you about this, uh? Would you give a damn?"  
  
"Yeah I would"  
  
Dylan just sighed and said.  
  
"If you ever do this again, I'll throw in you the brig. For, now, you will do something else instead."  
  
"What?"  
  
"You're going to do double consecutive shifts for two weeks"  
  
"Wha..?"  
  
"You heard me"  
  
"Okay"  
  
"and you must promise me not to help them again"  
  
"Fine I promise"  
  
"Good" with that he left.  
  
The next day, Harper was singing to himself and more or less tapping on the various buttons on the console to the tune of the music, until, holo- Andromeda said  
  
"I'm a Warship, not a musical instrument" She found this habit of Harper's rather annoying.  
  
"But doing these stupid tests on the nebula is so boring."  
  
Out of respect for Andromeda, he stopped doing this and hummed instead.  
  
Soon, Dylan started his shift, but then looked at Harper and said.  
  
"Must you do that? It's so annoying"  
  
"Come on boss, I can't sing, I can't hum, what can a guy do?"  
  
"How about doing your work?"  
  
"I am. Hey, why in the heck are we doing these stupid tests?"  
  
"This information may be the key we need to finding out about different powers sources and weapons"  
  
"But Rommie said the odds of finding anything are..."  
  
"To hell with the odds, just do the tests, Harper!"  
  
Days passed, and Dylan again was locked up in his room.  
  
Harper, meanwhile, was doing some cool experiments, with this machine had had been working on, when Dylan again came in.  
  
"I just wanted to see why there were dangerous and illegal chemicals as well as components on my ship" Dylan was angry  
  
"I uh...." Harper was trying to think of an excuse. However, something exploded, and the next thing he knew was that he was in medbay, with Trance standing over him. 


	2. Chapter 2

"What happened?"  
  
" There was an explosion, and both you and Dylan went unconscious"  
  
"How is he?" Harper was starting to feel guilty about the fact that he had used dangerous stuff on the machine he had been working on, when Dylan had come in.  
  
"A mild concussion, and severe eye damage.  
  
"How bad?"  
  
"Well" she whispered in his ear. "he's blinded for now, but we don't know if it's permanent or not, but don't tell him that. He's under anesthesia, since I had to do some operating on his eye.  
  
Soon, Harper, was well enough to be up and about, and he went to see Dylan, who was now awake.  
  
"Hey boss" he said guiltily "What's up?"  
  
"Harper?" Dylan had bandages on his eyes.  
  
"That's me"  
  
"Well, aside from being blinded, I' m just great."  
  
"Look on the bright side, at least you now have an excuse to just relax"  
  
"Thanks to you and your genius" Dylan answered sarcastically. "If you hadn't brought in those materials, none of this would have happened"  
  
"Look boss, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that explosion to happen,"  
  
"No you didn't, but that does not excuse you. You had some of the most dangerous chemicals in the known worlds on MY ship, and look what happened, now I'm temporarily blinded. I'm lucky that it isn't permanent. You're going to the brig, for bringing in dangerous stuff to the Andromeda. What you did has no excuse Harper!" he was starting to get mad.  
  
Later, Rommie, with Beka's approval, escorted him to the brig, where he spent some time.  
  
Later, Trance gave Dylan the bad news.  
  
"I don't think there is anything I could do with your eyes. You may be perminently blind"  
  
Dylan just took a deep breath and said.  
  
"Look, no offense Trance, but I'm getting a second opinion."  
  
"Fine, but they will tell you the same thing"  
  
And so Dylan went to several doctors, even on Sinti. They all told him the same thing. He considered the option of getting false eyes, but there were none that worked for humans.  
  
Meanwhile, Harper had retrofit a Maria bot, to become a seeing eye bot, while Dylan stayed cooped up in his room. Then, he came up with an idea.  
  
"Beka.." he said, when he and her were on the bridge together.  
  
"Yes Harper" she was rather mad at him as she, like the others, blamed him for Dylan's blindness.  
  
"What if we gave Dylan a Visor? Could he then be able to see what the ship needs by using color spectruming?  
  
"It could work"  
  
"Talk to him about it"  
  
"Will do."  
  
Some hours later, Beka went to talk to Dylan, who, as he had been, was just drinking and sitting around.  
  
"What is it?" he asked  
  
"Harper has an idea. Visor installed, which would use color spectruming."  
  
"and can Mr. Harper build it"  
  
"He has some of it in theory, but he'll need the help of some scientists and neurologists."  
  
"I see."  
  
However, somehow, Trance came up with a way for Dylan to combat his blindness, and that was that.  
  
"Hey" Harper said "Why is it that the minute I find a solution, Dylan gets cured. Did you have it all along? Or just a coincidence?"  
  
"Yes" Trance said in his mysterious fashion.  
  
"Oh boy"  
  
One day, during a diplomatic function on some planet called Ikan, Harper had gone outside for a breath of fresh air, when he saw corrina sneak by.  
  
"Harper!"  
  
"Corrina?"  
  
"No you granma"  
  
"Hi granma, you sure look young!"  
  
"haha. I need to speak to you"  
  
"Okay, but I can't get caught"  
  
"Look, I need your help in making some parts for me?"  
  
"for what?"  
  
"a decoder, and hacking device"  
  
"OH,.. well I wanna help, but I don't see, how I could get away."  
  
"How about now? I heard the party just started."  
  
"Too risky. I'll meet you later, as we are staying over at some hotel rooms. Meet me at the basement of the Notlin Grand."  
  
"Will do!"  
  
A few minutes after she left, Rommie came out. She looked great in her sleek, black dress.  
  
"Too bad she's dressing like that for Captain Terrific and not me" he thought.  
  
"Harper, Dylan was wondering where you were"  
  
" I was um.. getting fresh air."  
  
" He wants you there, mingling."  
  
"Okay"  
  
Later, he and Corrina met in the hotel basement, which was easy for Harper to get through as he and Beka have had to break into more secured areas during their Maru careers.  
  
"So, how can I help ya?"  
  
"Well, I need a machine that will help us hack into classified files. We'd also like a decoder"  
  
"I see"  
  
"We'd be willing to pay you"  
  
"Sounds great, but it's one thing to give you guys little things, but to give you this big thing, that's a whoole different ball game."  
  
"Look, you grew up on Earth, right?"  
  
"Yeah"  
  
"So, you know what it's like to be persecuted and enslaved"  
  
"Check and check"  
  
"Well, while our situation is not as bad, we are treated like second class citizens. Also, we are brutally targeted by the police to the point where 1 out of ever 10 young men and women have had harassment by the police and a good number of those have been killed by them for no apparent reason in cold blood with the police using the stupidest of excuses."  
  
"Like the Nietzcheans on Earth!" Harper exclaimed, starting to feel some sympathy.  
  
"In fact, my own brother was killed in this manner." she said, with some wistfulness in her voice. "That's how I joined the cause. See, the gogans, are a minority in my homeworld"  
  
And they talked on and on, until it was almost daybreak and Harper went back to his room to sleep for a couple of hours.  
  
Before his leaving Corrina, they gave each other contact information, and promised to try to meet again before Harper left, and then again, as soon as possible.  
  
Fortunatly, Dylan gave everyone, but Rommie the night off, as he would be the one to talk to various government leaders during a State dinner.  
  
So, Harper, went off and met Corrina at some bar, and they went to the back room to talk about what he could do. Fortunatly, they already had a decoder, but it just needed to be fixed. So, he, with her help, rigged it to be able to decode the newest code. After, a while, he and Corrina had dinner.  
  
"So, tell me about yourself" she said.  
  
"Well, I grew up on Earth, and left thanks to Beka Valentine, who was a frighter captain. I worked for her until we got Captain Hunt out of the Black hole and then we got into the whole 'restore the Commonwealth gig' "  
  
"I see. I grew up in the Gogan quarter of Ikan. I was able to get a partial university education, but I was kicked out for my activism"  
  
"That sucks"  
  
"but I've been able, with many others, to do alot of good"  
  
"I see" Harper could not help but notice had pretty Corrina looked with her eyes, which had shades of both blue and purple.  
  
Soon, someone joined them at the table.  
  
"Harper, this is my cousin Hikial."  
  
"Hey."  
  
"He is a computer systems engineer"  
  
"Cool."  
  
"Did you get the info from that woman?" she asked her cousin.  
  
"Yeah"  
  
"How?"  
  
"Let's just say that I had to go where many had gone before"  
  
"Yeech" was all Harper could say. "I hope the information ya got was worth it"  
  
"It was"  
  
While, the three continued talking, Harper started to draw plans for a hacking device. Just as he was about to finish, he saw that daybreak had come.  
  
"Oh CRAP! I gotta go!"  
  
"Okay. See you soon. Thanks for everything!"  
  
And so Harper left. He was tired and knew that there was another stupid reception the whole crew, sans Tyr and Rev, who were on the ship, had to go to.  
  
By the time he arrived, everyone else had gone, everyone else, but Dylan.  
  
"Dylan??"  
  
"Where the hell have you been? We have been looking for you" you." 


	3. Chapter 3

" uh... hanging with some chick"  
  
" I see. Doing what?"  
  
"You're a big boy now, do I have to spell it out for you?"  
  
Dylan just looked at him with his glare of anger.  
  
"And why are you here? Shouldn't you be at that reception?" Harper asked.  
  
"It ended already. I had to make excuses for you, but don't worry, I've become quite good at it." Harper could notice Dylan's anger by now.  
  
"Where's Beka, Trance, and Rommie ?"  
  
"They were able to take a break and tour the city after attending the reception that you missed.I tried to find you, but one of the doormen said that he saw you going off to the Central district. So I thought I'd wait."  
  
"UH.. I see. Look, I'm sorry, I just lost track of time, okay."  
  
"The official hosting the reception was a bit insulted."  
  
" So?"  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"He'd probably get pissed if I had breathed the wrong way." It always annoyed Harper that a lot of times, in diplomatic situations, little stupid things could offend people  
  
"This is not funny" Dylan's voice was starting to rise."Look I put up with your oddities in social situations for a while now because I knew that you lived a hard life, and did not have the time to learn social nicities, but it's been about two years, Harper! You no longer have an excuse!"  
  
"But boss...."  
  
"Don't say it! I'm getting sick and tired of making excuses for you. Harper, You will go back to the ship, and I will tell the officials that you had to take care of some business."  
  
Harper was starting to worry, as he had to meet Corrina  
  
"Come on boss, give me another chance."  
  
"You actually want to go to an state function?"  
  
"I want to prove myself"  
  
"I see"  
  
"Fine. I'll give you another chance. On one condition."  
  
"What?"  
  
"You'll stay in your hotel room, when there is nothing to attend"  
  
"Sure boss" Harper figured that he would sneak out.  
  
"Better yet, tonight is free, and so you will spend it with me"  
  
"Doing what?"  
  
"Playing Go!"  
  
"But I don't like playing Go!. Don't you trust me?"  
  
"I trust that Go! is funner to play with two people and I trust you to be you."  
  
Dylan and Harper played 3 games of Go! That evening, with Dylan winning most of them.  
  
"Harper, the key of this game is to look to three steps ahead."  
  
"I know I know." Stategy games were never really his thing.  
  
"Hey I know" he said. "Now that we got to play your favorite game, why don't we play one of mine, Yoshi-doe-doe?"  
  
Dylan just sighed and said "Fine"  
  
So they did. They betted using littles rocks that Harper had stolen from the hotel garden.  
  
So, they played until it was time for bed, and Dylan had Rommie keep track of Harper with her sensors.  
  
Hence, that night, Harper could not meet Corrina.  
  
However, during yet another annoying reception, in the evening, Harper was again, outside, away from the crowd, when Corrina came called him from some bushes.  
  
"Harper?"  
  
"Corrina?"  
  
"Why didn't you show?" she asked as she came out of the bushes.  
  
"My boss found out that I was out all night, and so He made me hang with him, and had someone keep on eye out."  
  
"Does he suspect anything"  
  
"Not really. He thinks that I was just out with some girl"  
  
"I see."  
  
"I need you to come help us now!"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"To fix something?. You can say that you felt sick or somesuch"  
  
"Fine. I'll go"  
  
And so he went. By the time his finished it was late, and so he rushed to the Hotel, so he could play the whole sick game. Unfortunatly, on his way, he ran into Dylan, who roughly grabbed him by the arm.  
  
"There you are"  
  
"Hey Dylan..."  
  
"Someone saw you go off on your own with some strange woman."  
  
"Oh?" He could hear Dylan taking a few deep breaths as he said this.  
  
"Yes. Who in the hell is she?"  
  
"No one, just some chick"  
  
"Look, let's just go, You are going back to the ship!"  
  
Rommie gave Harper a quick ride to the ship, which was in orbit. Once there, she had him confined to quarters, per Dylan's order.  
  
"Aw man." Harper thought to himself.  
  
Later, on, Dylan went to visit him in his room.  
  
"So, you have yet to answer the burning question. Who in the hell was she?"  
  
"Your granma."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"Your granma.."  
  
"Look, if she was just some fling, she would not have risked herself by visiting you in the middle of some reception. She must have had another reason to want to see you."  
  
"Can't you accept the fact that I'm irresistable?"  
  
Dylan just glared at him.  
  
" Well, I am irresistable"  
  
"If you don't tell me who she was, then I will toss you in the brig"  
  
"Look, she needed to meet me then cause um... her husband was coming back that night"  
  
Dylan just sighed and looked up at the ceiling.  
  
"Harper, just tell me who she was."  
  
"Well, let's just say that it's better for the Commonwealth that you don't know" Harper knew that not telling Dylan who Corrina was protected her and him, as Dylan would have good deniability.  
  
"That's not for you to decide"  
  
"Yes it is. I'm the one who knows the freaking secret."  
  
"No it isn't"  
  
"Yes it is"  
  
"DAMN IT HARPER JUST TELL ME!" Dylan yelled rather louder than usual. He was getting tired of Harper's shinanigans, especially the more recent ones and was still mad that Harper indirectly caused him to almost go blind perminently. Dylan took some deep breaths after he said this to try to calm himself.  
  
Harper just looked at him in surprised, as it was not like him to yell like that.  
  
"Look, boss, ya gotta trust me. It's better for you if you don't know."  
  
"Actually," Holo-Andromeda said "Dylan does need to know what happened in order to better protect the Commonwealth from any scandal that could get signatories to change their minds.  
  
"But if he doesn't know, he doesn't have to lie."  
  
"But I do know that there is something iffy going on, and I have to know what it is"  
  
"No you don't." 


	4. Chapter 4

"Okay okay. I was meeting her cause I was thinking of buying some stolen components for her, as I need it for a project."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"She risked being seen, just to sell you some parts?"  
  
"The chick needed to see me, as she needed me to inspect some other stuff for her in exchange for lowering the price. I was gonna pick up the stuff tonight, but I guess I won't"  
  
"I see." Dylan seemed to believe him.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Well, I'm sorry if you missed out on a good deal but that's the way it goes. You will be confined to quarters until further notice."  
  
"Okay"  
  
And so Dylan left.  
  
So, Harper turned on his 'swing' music, and danced for a bit, ate some food,and then worked on some gadget he had to work on.  
  
One day, Harper and Dylan were working alone on the bridge, when Dylan asked him.  
  
"Is the device I asked for ready?"  
  
"You mean the foot soaker? Yeah almost."  
  
"I'll need it soon."  
  
"Did ya get an injury?"  
  
"No, Andrea is coming"  
  
"What? Didn't she cheat on you?" Andrea was someone that Dylan had been having a long distance relationship with for almost two years. However, during her last visit, Harper and he had seen her kissing on of the delegates, and it had turned out that they were having a fling. She was also quite a flirt.  
  
"I forgave her, on the condition that she come live on this ship as a sign of her commitment."  
  
"Dylan, she cheated on you twice! Come on, you a nice, great looking guy, and can have any babe you want, but what do you do? you find yourself a woman who likes to get around."  
  
Dylan was just looking at his console, trying not to get mad.  
  
"She only cheated once, Harper"  
  
"What about the time she kissed that dude at the bar?"  
  
"It was to get some information."  
  
"yeah, and I'm the Vedran empress" Harper rolled his eyes as he instinctively knew that she enjoyed that kiss. "Look, Dylan, I've seen her type, heck I've dated her type. They are good for a one night cosmic connection, but for a relationship, no freakin way!"  
  
"Thank you Mr. Harper" Dylan said, and Harper knew this was Dylan's way of saying, 'I'm going to ignore what you just said.'  
  
"Look, I know you care for her, but she's not worth it. She's gonna cheat on you again." Harper had seen her, behind Dylan's back, get just too flirty with people"  
  
"I know you don't like her, but I love her and that should be good enough for you"  
  
"Dylan...."  
  
"She's coming to live here and that's final!"  
  
"But... but.."  
  
"This is not a debate."  
  
Ten months later, after Andrea had come to live on the ship, she had another fling, but Dylan forgave her again.  
  
"Dylan, why did you take her back?" Harper asked him one day.  
  
"I wanted to give her another chance. She promises to change, and needs help"  
  
"Dylan! I told you that this would happen. She's a damn slut!"  
  
"Enough! Just because you don't like her, that doesn't mean that she is a slut!"  
  
"She is! There are only two affairs that you know of, I've heard rumors Dylan, sorry to say."  
  
Dylan just glared and ignored him.  
  
"She's a thief. Some reliable informat told me."  
  
He still ignored Harper.  
  
Meanwhile, Harper, through informats he meet on some of the drifts he had to go to, found that most of the revolutionary group had to go underground or in exile, after some government crackdowns. He hoped that Corrina was safe, and not in prison or worse.  
  
Andrea, was still around, for now.  
  
One day, he was at a drift called Babylon, which was near a bigger than normal nebula.When he found an unusually looking object in a store. It was in the shape of a three dimensional hectigon. As he was trying to figure out what it did. The shopkeeper, who was an Inari, told him to open it.  
  
"Sure why not" and so he did.  
  
Suddenly, he found himself in a white room, when he saw a familiar figure come out.  
  
"Beka?"  
  
"We are the Prophets, or what you would call, the nebula aliens. We originate from a wormhole, but some of us traveled to this place."  
  
"Oh I get it, you guys talk to me by appearing as people I know. That's pretty cool.Do you guys know the future? If so, can you tell me who is gonna win the big Emestee 3000 races?" He hoped that like Trance, they would have some sort of future predicting powers.  
  
"You are a corporeal." the being looking like Dylan said.  
  
"I guess so"  
  
" We are not corporeal" the Beka look a like commented.  
  
"The present, future, and past are one" Dylan's look-a-like said.  
  
"OOOkay. So, do you guys wanna join the Commonwealth?"  
  
"We need your help"  
  
"How?"  
  
"You will face many trials" Beka's look-a-like said.  
  
"If you're trying to convince me, that's not the way to do it" Harper did not like the prospect of facing more trials than he needed to right now."  
  
"The Harper must tell Hunt that his plan to fight the Ulits will only end in defeat. He must wait.  
  
"Like he's gonna listen to me when it comes to military crap." Harper said sarcastically.  
  
"He's not ready"  
  
"Look, Dylan's not just gonna change his plans just cause you said so."  
  
"It is necessary to save the battle for another day."  
  
"Why don't you guys tell him yourself. "  
  
"We have chosen you to be our messenger" 


	5. Chapter 5

(Disclaimer: I don't claim the prophets as my idea: I just borrowed them from paramount because I figured that it would be fun to watch Harper, with his sarcasm interact with them. Also, these prophets have lived on their own in that nebula for so long, that they are a bit different from the prophets that talked to Sisco)  
  
" So you you want me to tell Dylan not to fight these Ulits?"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because it will end in defeat" the prophet looking like Dylan said.  
  
"He's not gonna listen to me. Don't you guys get it?  
  
"The Harper must do what is needed" and with that, Harper, found himself back in the shop.  
  
"So, what did they want? Did you enjoy your first Orb experiance?" the Inari shopkeeper asked "I actually belong to the religion called Undita, which worships the prophets, or nebula aliens, as non believers called them.I was keeping the orb here, as part of an exhibit to spread have some of them be in different parts of the drift. The local priests are coming to get it soon. The prophets lead them to the idea of exhibiting them in this way."  
  
"They want me to do something impossible" Harper commented.  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"yeah"  
  
"The prophets never give you more than you can handle" the Inari shopkeeper commented.  
  
Hours later, Harper went to Dylan's office to talk to him.  
  
"Dylan, I need to talk to ya."  
  
"What is it Harper?"  
  
"Well, you know how a lot of folks here worship a bunch of nebula aliens?"  
  
"Yes, I vaguely heard about it and about some 'orbs' they put everywhere."  
  
"Well, these aliens talked to me"  
  
Dylan gave him a confused look.  
  
"Well, I opened one of the orb things, and I suddenly found myself in a white room. Two of these prophets guys talked to me, but one looked like you and the other looked like Beka. They seem to be non-linear aliens, and they told me to tell you that you should not fight the Ulits, because it will end in defeat. "  
  
"Why?"  
  
"They said that we weren't ready and that the battle should be saved for another day."  
  
"But I gave my word to the Ikalites, and I can't break my promise based on some vague foreboodings by some mysterious aliens, who won't show themselves."  
  
"But what if they can see the future?"  
  
"or they could be working for the SOTA"  
  
"Nah, I don't think so. I didn't get any evil vibes from them."  
  
"I'm sorry, Harper, but I'll need something more concrete to convince me to change my mind"  
  
"That's what I told them, but do they listen, NO!" Harper replied, annoyed  
  
The next day, Harper was at command doing his shift, when he again found himself in that mysterious white room.  
  
"You did not complete your task" a prophet looking like Trance said  
  
"Gee, I wonder why. Could it be because you guys just expect people to just do what you tell them to do, without proof, but mysterious mumbo jumbo?"  
  
"You must tell Hunt not to fight"  
  
"Look, I gave your message, he didn't accept it. What can I do?"  
  
"Do what is needed"  
  
"What"  
  
"We want you to prevent the battle"  
  
"That'll be easy, and while I'm at it, I could um..change the laws of physics" he answered sarcastically.  
  
Before he knew it, he was back on the command deck.  
  
"Harper!" Beka caleld "Are you okay?"  
  
"Fine. Those nebula aliens talked to me again"  
  
"What did they want this time?" Beka had been surprised about his experiance with these aliens.  
  
"Same thing. They want me to stop the battle with the Ulits, and I was like, yeah right"  
  
"I want to talk with them directly" Dylan said. "Maybe they could be our allies against the magog"  
  
" They didn't seem interested in joining the Commonwealth, and they only want to talk to me."  
  
"I see" Dylan replied.  
  
A week later, Harper yet again went to the 'white room', while he was fixing some conduits.  
  
"Why aren't you working on your task?" a prophet looking like Tyr asked.  
  
"Look, I tried my best and it didn't work out. I'm sorry."  
  
"Do or don't there is no try" he/it responded.  
  
"Whatever. Look, I did you guys a favor, now please stop bugging me, okay?"  
  
"Your path cannot be altered" he/it said.  
  
"Look, I choose my path!" Harper was started to get annoyed by their constantly bugging him.  
  
"Everyone's destiny is prewritten"  
  
"No it's not!"  
  
"You must prevent the battle"  
  
"There we go again! Geez! can't you guys give it a rest? Can't you guys use your powers or something"  
  
"We don't have those kind of powers." the prophet, who looked like Dylan said, as he appeared suddenly.  
  
"I see. Why don't you guys go pester someone else, as I get some work done, okay?" Harper was getting tired of them.  
  
" There will be great sorrow if the battle is fought"  
  
"Well, duh! people are gonna die"  
  
"You must complete your mission" a prophet, who looked like Rommie said adamently.  
  
"Gimme a break! Look, if you want to convince me, then why not show me the battle?"  
  
However, before he knew it, he was back where he was and hearing Andromeda, the ship ask.  
  
"Harper! are you okay? You blanked out for a minute"  
  
"Yeah. Those nebula aliens visited me again. Man! are they annoying!"  
  
One day, as Harper was working in the machine shop, Beka came to see him.  
  
"I just wanted to see how you were" she said.  
  
"I'm fine."  
  
"Have you had any more visits from the Nebula aliens?"  
  
"Not lately and I'm glad!."  
  
"You, know, I'm surprised that you haven't been paranoid about them."  
  
"Well, they might be annoying, but I have a feeling that they are not evil."  
  
"I see."  
  
"They expected me to influence Dylan's military decisions. How unrealistic is that? Why don't they go bug him?"  
  
"Who knows?"  
  
"and why can't any of them appear in the form of a hot babe?"  
  
Days later, Harper went to Biyon Drift to get parts and have some fun, when, he ran into Corrina.  
  
"Corrina?"  
  
"It's me." she answered  
  
"What's up?"  
  
"Nothing, I had to go into exile."  
  
"That sucks. Sorry to hear it."  
  
"You?" she seemed to want a change of subject.  
  
"Some nebula aliens talked to me and asked me to do something impossible."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Yeah, I can't get into details" Harper could not reveal that the Andromeda, as well as some Commonwealth signatories, would be fighting the Ulites in a few days.  
  
"I see."  
  
"Why don't we go hang out for a bit?"  
  
"Sure, let's do lunch."  
  
However, as they were eating, Harper found himself in the white room.  
  
"Time is running out" the prophet looking like Dylan said.  
  
Harper just rolled his eyes.  
  
"There we go again. What part of no don't you guys understand?"  
  
"Corrina is the key to your task" the beka look a like said.  
  
"Wha.."  
  
"Ask her about her 'special source' "she/it  
  
"and you shall be helped." Prophet/Dylan said.  
  
"and I should help you why?"  
  
"Because it is needed"Prophet #2/Beka said.  
  
"Okay, okay, I'll talk to this special source" Harper figured it couldn't hurt to do this one last thing for the prophets.  
  
Suddenly, Harper found himself back at the place, where he and Corrina were sharing a meal.  
  
"Harper! You blanked out on me."  
  
"Sorry, it's the nebula aliens again."  
  
"I see...."  
  
"They wanted me to talk to your special source"  
  
Corrina gave him a look of great surprise.  
  
"How..."  
  
"Look, I'm just the messenger, okay? I need to talk to this 'special source' of yours for some task they want me to do."  
  
"What task?"  
  
"I can't tell ya."  
  
"You have proven to be trustworthy, so I will take you to my special source"  
  
"Great!"  
  
And so Corrina, after lunch, lead Harper to her special source, who was a guy of about 40 years.  
  
"Toby, this is Harper, he has something to ask of you, but I have to go to the other room, as it is rather secret."  
  
"See.." Harper began, not knowing what do say... "I work on the Andromeda, and recently this Nebula aliens have asked me to do this mission, and told me that you would help"  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"See, don't tell anyone this, but we are going to ambush these guys called the Ulites, as a favor to some ally because they have been trying to tak over stuff, including stuff that belongs to our ally. I need to to help me stop this battle"  
  
Toby looked thoughtful.  
  
"I don't know what to tell ya" Toby answered.  
  
"I know, I know. I'm not even sure why I am doing this."  
  
"To get them off your back, perhaps?"  
  
"Yeah, that's it." Harper,  
  
"So, you don't have a way to help me?"  
  
"Well, I do have some contacts in the Ulite government, but not among the Big Wigs"  
  
"Maybe your contacts have contacts among the big wigs."  
  
"Maybe"  
  
"I've got an idea! Maybe we could make it look like you have intelligence that will somehow stop the fighting."  
  
"but why do we wanna do that? Isn't stopping the Ulites a good thing?"  
  
"Yeah, but maybe it's better in the long run to fight them later?"  
  
"Or better yet.. give Dylan fake intelligence!"  
  
"How do we know that we can trust these nebula aliens?"  
  
"Well, they may be annoying, but they're not evil."  
  
"I see."  
  
"I'm mostly doing this because we need more time anyway to prepare for the ambush."  
  
"What's your plan?"  
  
"With the help of one of your contacts, I'll make one of Dylan's contacts think that the Ulite governments knows about the ambush. This way, Dylan'll postpone it."  
  
"and people won't get hurt"  
  
"You betcha"  
  
Days later, Dylan made an announcement.  
  
"We're postponing the ambush"  
  
Why?" Tyr asked, disapointed that they wouldn't get to fight.  
  
"Because the Ulite government found out about it."  
  
"Won't they know that we have access to their codes if we postpone or cancel it?"  
  
"We send false intelligence regarding logistical or strategical problems resulting in us cancelling it." Dylan answered  
  
"I see, or we could pretend that there is major conflict between us and our allies, another reason for cancellation" Tyr suggested.  
  
"Good idea."  
  
Harper, though giving an outward look of surprise, was glad that it had worked out, as he did not feel ready to fight the Ulites, and hoped that this meant the end to the annoying nebula aliens bugging him.  
  
Alas, for Harper, that was not to be. Months later, a while after Andrea had dumped Dylan, he got yet another vision. 


	6. Chapter 6

As usual, Harper was in the machine shop working on his X-1, when, suddenly, he was in the white room, .  
  
"Aw man.. not again!" he groaned as he figured out where he was.  
  
"Greetings"  
  
"Your welcome" Harper said annoyed. "Look, I did you guys a big favor and do I get any thanks, No! You come see me months later, only when you want something else."  
  
"We want you to build something." Trance/prophet#1 said.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"It is a part of a puzzle" prophet#2/Dylan replied. All the various prophets would take turns appearing and talking to him.  
  
"Look, I am not going to do any more favors for you guys! I only did this one favor cause I wanted it as well. Why in the hell would I wanna build something for you ungrateful jerks?" Harper was starting to get a little mad at the nebula aliens.  
  
"It is needed for counterbalance" prophet #3/Beka said.  
  
"That explains everything." he answered sarcastically.  
  
"The Harper lacks faith" prophet#4/Tyr.  
  
"The Harper is sick and tired of you guys asking him to do favors" he replied."Look, go find yourself another messenger to do your dirty work."  
  
Suddenly, Harper found himself having a vision of the device, it was surrounded by mystery and power. Also, he got visions of what he needed to do to make it. Then he was back at the white room.  
  
"Okay, so the machine seem impressive, but still..I'm no one's slave!"  
  
"The Harper is not our slave"  
  
"Glad we agree on something" he answered with a sigh.  
  
The Harper needs to help us" prophet #1/Trance.  
  
"Well, frankly, you can just kiss the Harper's kludge ass"  
  
"The Harper likes to build?"  
  
"Yeah"  
  
"Does not the Harper want a chance to test and challenge his abilities"  
  
"Yeah I guess"  
  
"We are giving the Harper this chance, and in exchange we will have something needed"  
  
"I see. You want me to think of this as a challenge, that I can aspire to."  
  
"The Harper will get time to think about it" prophet #1/Trance replied.  
  
And so, Harper was back at his machine shop, for now, but only five minutes passed, when again, he was in the white room.  
  
"Hey, I thought that you would give me some more time!"  
  
"Time is irrelevant" prophet #2/Beka replied.  
  
"That's easy for you to say, you're not corporeal!" Harper answered.  
  
"What has the Harper decided?"  
  
"Well, the device does look cool, and you are going to help me right?"  
  
"The Harper will get guidance" prophet #3/Dylan said.  
  
"Anyway, I figure that the device is cool enough, and won't cause the end of the universe as we know it. And because I'm a nice guy, I'll build it for ya, but only because I like to build stuff."  
  
"The Harper has made a wise choice"  
  
"Your welcome"  
  
Suddenly, Harper got visions on how he could get started using what he had on the Andromeda, and was back at the machine shop. Then, he got to work.  
  
  
  
He worked all through the evening, night, and morning, until his shift, which he was late for because he had to go get coffee.  
  
As he came to the command deck, Beka looked at him funny.  
  
"You were up all night, weren't you?" she was used to his staying up nights in order to work on something or other.  
  
"Yeah. The nebula aliens want me to build them a device, and so I got started."  
  
"What kind of device"  
  
"Well, I'm only getting some information at a time. Like I got visions of how it looked like and how to get started"  
  
"OOOH kaaay" Beka was getting all weirded out by these visions of Harper's.  
  
"I know it sounds weird, but I'm only doing it, cause the device looks cool, and it's fun to build stuff."  
  
"I see." Beka gave him a funny look.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Nothing"  
  
One month passed and Harper was living on three hours a night of sleep, if any, as he had to balance duties and the device. He was making some progress, but not alot, as he often had to remove or rehaul stuff more often than not. It began to take a toll on him, as he was starting to get a bit obsessed with it.  
  
One day, he was at the command deck, doing some tests, when Dylan came to do his shift.  
  
"Mr. Harper, you look like hell" he said, rather worried. Harper had deep circles around his eyes, his hair was uncombed, and he looked rather pale.  
  
"I'm fine..." he interupted himself with his coughing.  
  
"Are you sick?"  
  
"No." He coughed again.  
  
Suddenly, holo-Andromeda appeared.  
  
"Dylan, some conduits on deck 33 blew out"  
  
"What?"  
  
"They were supposed to have gotten followup maintence after they were fixed, but Harper had not gotten to it"  
  
Dylan just sighed and looked at him.  
  
"What? Look, I do the best I can."  
  
"That's the third problem, today alone, Harper, that has resulted from your neglect." Dylan remarked.  
  
"I'm not neglecting my work!"  
  
"You have been for the last week" HoloAndromeda replied. She was right, as this week, the nebula aliens had given him more information through visions than ever on the device this week and he was able to make progress, faster as a result.  
  
"Sorry, I'll try to improve"  
  
"See that you do" Dylan said simply.  
  
So, Harper made a big effort to not neglect his work, resulting in the progress of the device being slowed down.  
  
One day, three weeks later, on the command deck, as Dylan was talking to some dignatary, Harper, took a visit to a very familar place: The white room.  
  
"The Harper is slow in his progress"  
  
"Look, I'm not just some guy, who has nothing else to do. I've got responsibilities."  
  
"The Harper will get new information."  
  
"Great!" Suddenly, Harper got visions of what he needed to do next, when, before he knew it, he was back on the command deck.  
  
"Harper?" Rommie said gently.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Is he all right?" the Dignitary, in the front viewscreen, asked.  
  
"Don't worry about him, he's on medication that somehow causes some unexpected side effects" Dylan said apologetically.  
  
Then, Harper left, the command deck without a word, to work on the project.  
  
"Why is he leaving?" the dignitary asked  
  
"He has to work on some rountine maintenence right away" Dylan answered.  
  
"I see" the man seemed a bit offended, but not too much.  
  
Three hours later, Harper was still engulfed on the device, when he felt a tap on the shoulder. It was Dylan.  
  
"Mr. Harper!"  
  
"Huh?" Harper asked, as he saw Dylan glare.  
  
"What the hell happened? First you blank out, then you leave the command deck, without a word, practically offending our guest."  
  
"Sorry, I just had some inspiration for the device, and since I'm not useful at diplomatic stuff..."  
  
"Your duty to the mission comes first."  
  
"I know, I know. It's just that I got some visions, from the nebula aliens on what to do next, and I didn't wanna forget. Sorry, it won't happen again."  
  
Dylan just sighed, and kept his glare on.  
  
"This is the third time you've done this."  
  
"Done what?"  
  
"Blank out and then leave when we had a guest"  
  
"Look, I can't control when these aliens talk to me, okay?"  
  
"I talked to someone of the relgion that worships these aliens. He says that your experiance of visions is rare, but not unheard of."  
  
"I see"  
  
"Look, Harper, just try to remember what the mission is okay? I understand how much this device means to you, but do not let it interfere with your duty to the Commonwealth." Dylan was trying very hard to be patient.  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Good. I'll leave you to your work."  
  
TBC 


	7. chapter 7

Five months passed, and Harper was making slow progress on the machine, as he was getting very few visions by the nebula aliens. There were times, when he wondered why he spent so much of his free time on some project that some aliens who live on a nebula requested. Well, he did like the challenge, and they were quite helpful, though still annoyingly mysterious at times. However, suddenly, after a one-month vision vacation, Harper found himself in that white room.  
  
"What is it this time?" Harper said, kinda grouchy as he was tired. "I hope this 'call' is to give me advice on the machine."  
  
"You no longer need advice, for now." The Trance prophet said.  
  
"What?" Harper was surprised and getting a bit mad. "How in the heck am I gonna do it?"  
  
"The journey is more important than the destination" the Rev prophet said.  
  
"Yeah, whatever."  
  
"The Harper must work things out for himself." Now, it was the Dylan prophet talking. "For now, we need you to do another mission."  
  
"What do you guys want?" Harper was not looking forward to this.  
  
"You must prevent the signing of Eloas to the Commonwealth" it was now the Tyr prophet's turn to talk. It was a planet that was thinking of signing the charter.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because they are not ready"  
  
Harper just sighed.  
  
"Dylan would never agree to this" He knew that Dylan would not listen to him.  
  
"Dylan does not factor into this" the Tyr prophet replied.  
  
"Easy for you to say"  
  
"The Harper has skills, he should use them on this mission" It was the Trance prophet again.  
  
"Oookaaaay. Why should I do this? "  
  
" The stakes are high" The Tyr prophet reappeared.  
  
"You guys are worse than Trance in the whole mysterious thing." He commented. "Besides, why must you guys appear as people I know? It's kinda weird." He asked that question now, as it was starting to get odd seeing the faces and voices of people he knows telling him to do out there stuff.  
  
"The Harper forgets that we are non corporeal" replied the Tyr prophet.  
  
"Oh yeah. Sorry, I'm kinda tired"  
  
" and why do you sometimes refer to me in the third person" At first, he found it odd, but it was starting to irritate.  
  
"Talking the corporeal way is not natural to us, and the third person, as you call it, is often easier."  
  
"I see."  
  
"The Harper must utilize his talents to their maximum" the Dylan prophet advised, before Harper again found himself back at the machine shop, where he thought about whether or not to do this mission for the prophets. On one hand, he did not want to betray the mission, nor his Andromeda friends, but on the other, the nebula aliens seemed to know stuff about the future.  
  
"Well" he thought to himself "Postponing the signing of one measly planet could not hurt the mission, but, that planet has no power whatsoever. Why should the nebula aliens give a damn? What if they are doing this to see if I'd be willing to be an errand boy for them? Screw this, I'm not gonna prevent anything."  
  
However, the nebula aliens had different plans.  
  
During the signing ceremony, Harper, who was seated at the front row of the audience section, found himself having visions of darkness, evil and suffering surrounding Eloas and nearby planets to the point where the devastation, and suffering Harper had seen on Earth paled in comparison. He knew that the nebula aliens were telling him that if Eloas signed the charter now, this would be the future.  
  
Just as the President of the planet was about to sign, Harper quickly ran to the podium, got the charter/contract, and ripped it in half.  
  
"Eloas can't join the commonwealth!!!" He yelled as he was restrained by the president's secret service. They hadn't acted before because they thought that Harper, whom they knew was a part of the Andromeda crew, was doing something legitimate.  
  
"Darkness will follow it if it does so too soon!" Everyone in the audience was looking at Harper as if he were crazy.  
  
Dylan, for his part, had a look of shock, then restrained anger and embarrassment.  
  
"I'm so sorry, Mr. President. My engineer meant you no harm. He's been under a lot of strain lately, but I assure you, he will pay the consequences of his actions."  
  
"Let him go" the president ordered, " If he had wanted to kill me, he would not have gone for the charter"  
  
So they did.  
  
"Do you have anything to say Mr. Harper?" Dylan asked.  
  
"I'm sorry for being so dramatic, but in the long run, it's the best thing" he replied, knowing that it didn't really sound like him."  
  
This rather offended both Dylan, who was rubbing his face, and the President.  
  
Rommie, suddenly came up to them.  
  
"Take him to the brig" Dylan ordered.  
  
And so she escorted him there.  
  
They did not say anything for a bit, and Rommie kept glaring at Harper.  
  
"How could you do this? Rommie asked angrily, " Don't you realize all the negotiating Dylan had to do to get Eloas to even think about signing the charter?"  
  
"The nebula aliens gave me visions, that told me that suffering and darkness would come to Eloas if they signed the charter right now."  
  
"They know the future? How can you be sure?"  
  
"I just do, okay."  
  
"That's not good enough, especially for what you just did."  
  
"I'm sorry, but I had to do it"  
  
Soon, Harper was in his brig cell, thinking about what he just did.  
  
He had trouble believing that he just interrupted such a solemn occasion in such a manner. However, it was what had to be done. The visions had made quite an impact on him, and they still disturbed him. A while later, Dylan came to see him. He seemed calm, but Harper knew that it was one of his 'I'm pissed, but I'm trying not to show it' calms  
  
"So, Mr. Harper, Rommie told me that the nebula aliens gave you visions of the future."  
  
"Yeah"  
  
"and with these visions you concluded that it would spell nothing but disaster if Eloas signed the charter?"  
  
"Yeah"  
  
"What did you see in those visions?"  
  
"Lots of people suffering, darkness, surrounding Eloas, and the nearby planets."  
  
"What kind of suffering"  
  
"It's hard to describe"  
  
Dylan took a deep breath and rubbed the side of his face.  
  
"Be more specific"  
  
"I can't."  
  
Dylan took another deep breath.  
  
"Look, Dylan, I'm sorry for what I did, but it had to be done"  
  
"Why didn't you talk to me about your doubts?" Dylan asked  
  
"The nebula aliens asked to me stop the signing, but I didn't want to help them, cause they didn't show me any good proof, and then I got the visions at the last minute"  
  
"I see."  
  
"So, what's up with the government?"  
  
" It decided to wait a while, mostly because your little act caused controversy." Dylan answered.  
  
"I see"  
  
"Well, I have duties to attend to. You will stay here, until further notice"  
  
"But why? I didn't do it out of malice"  
  
"There were better ways for you to have expressed your concern. Furthermore, what you did might have adversely affected the reputation of the commonwealth."  
  
"But I didn't have any concerns until the last minute!" Harper said frustrated by Dylan's lack of understanding.  
  
"You could have made up an excuse, to get me aside before the president signed or tried to sign the charter."  
  
"But you would have made me wait until after the ceremony"  
  
"You don't know that for sure"  
  
"and that's way I did what I did!"  
  
"Look, just stay here, until I say otherwise, okay?" Dylan's anger was starting to show and he left the cell in a huff.  
  
A few hours later, Holo-Andromeda suddenly appeared.  
  
"Would you like something for dinner?" she asked.  
  
"Sparky cola, Dodian ham and Mikia chips."  
  
"Fine. I'll have one of the bots get that for you."  
  
After eating his dinner, Beka came in. She was rather angry as well.  
  
"What the hell were you thinking?" she asked.  
  
"Didn't Rommie tell you?"  
  
"yeah, yeah, these nebula aliens gave you visions of the future." She answered, "Couldn't you have found a less nutty way to get your point across?"  
  
"No. I got the visions at the last minute and no one would have listened to me otherwise"  
  
"I see." She did not know what to say.  
  
A week later, Harper was let out of the brig. 


	8. chapter 8

Again, it was O200 and Harper found himself stuck on the device. He was having trouble figuring out how to make certain components more efficient, and how to get ones he needed, but did not have. Then, out of the blue, he had a vision.  
  
He was in a jungle, near a river searching, for something, but what? Suddenly, he found a cave, and entered it. There, he found something, needed, but then he was back at the machine shop.  
  
"That's it!" he thought. "I'm going to Ubaki" Ubaki was a jungle planet, that was mostly unpopulated.  
  
So, he hacked into the Maru, and the bay doors, and left to go there, after a brief stop somewhere else.  
  
Several slips later, he landed near a river planetside.  
  
He started to search for a cave, but then had the feeling that this was not the place. So, Harper choose another site. this cycle went on until one day, he heard Dylan's voice say  
  
"Harper, what the hell are you doing here?"  
  
"I'm looking for something"  
  
"What?" Beka asked. "and who gave you the right to steal my ship?"  
  
"I can't describe it, but I know that I need it. Look, Beka, I just wanted to borrow your ship"  
  
"Harper, we were worried about you." Beka said.  
  
"What possessed you to come here?" Dylan was curious.  
  
"I had a vision." he answered as Dylan and Beka looked at each other. "that something I needed was on this planet"  
  
"Oooh kay..." was all Beka could say.  
  
"How did you find me?"  
  
"Well, we first went to the nearby drift, Nuf, and asked around. They told us that you bought supplies for jungle trekking, and this was the nearest jungle planet."  
  
"Oh yeah, I did go to a nearby drift first."  
  
" Harper, you can't just run off just because you need to find something" Dylan said.  
  
"Look, I have to find this. Couldn't you guys help me?"  
  
"Fine." Beka figured it wouldn't hurt to humor him for now, until later, when they would try to help him.  
  
"Sure" Dylan said, as he felt the same.  
  
After some more searching, Harper finally picked a spot and starting digging, with Dylan and Beka's help. Finally, they found what Harper was looking for: a odd shaped purple thing, that was made as a machine part.  
  
"So, that's why we put in so much effort on this?" Beka asked,  
  
puzzled  
  
"What does it do?" Dylan wondered.  
  
"I don't know, but I'm sure that I'll figure it out." Harper answered, happy to have found what he was looking for. "Thanks guys!"  
  
"Your welcome" Dylan answered.  
  
So, they went back to the ship, where Harper tried to figure out what the component was, but without much success. It didn't help that he didn't get any more visions. He did scan after scan, and nothing useful came up. As he was doing another scan, he got his usual 'white room' visit.  
  
"The Harper did well" the Tyr prophet said.  
  
"Thanks!"  
  
"Now disaster can be avoided" prophet #1/Trance.  
  
"So, guys, does that mean that I get more visions on the device?"  
  
"The Harper is impatient" prophet #1/ Trance remarked.  
  
" Hey, I'm not immortal like you guys are" he replied.  
  
"We are aware of the Harper's mortality" the Tyr prophet said.  
  
"That's good to know" Harper replied. "So, what do you guys want?" He knew that they had another mission for him.  
  
"Your captain wants to try make peace between the Iakans and the Ecix." The former was a race of people who worshipped some goddess, named "Hechicera", while the latter worshipped a goddess called Zija. The philosophies of the prospective religions were very different, and thus centuries of war have resulted within the planet, both races lived in. Dylan wanted to broker a peace between them.  
  
"Yeah.. so…wait.." Harper said with a sigh… "You want me to stop him from trying huh?"  
  
"The Harper is correct"  
  
"Look, there is no freakin way I'd be able to convince Dylan."  
  
"That is the same excuse the Harper used before" the Beka prophet said.  
  
"That's different. I was able to take the choice from his hands, now there is no way for me to do it." Harper knew that if he would somehow sabotaged the talks, it would only postpone things and his getting caught could hurt the commonwealth and his reputatation ."Look, why don't you give him some freakin' visions?"  
  
"The Harper does not understand that visions are reserved only for certain individuals." The Dylan prophet said.  
  
"The Harper needs you to understand that there is no freakin way for me to convince Dylan not to be Dylan. Why wouldn't brokering peace between these two be a good thing?"  
  
" Peace, will lead to friendship, friendship will lead to an alliance. The alliance will lead to disaster in the universe." The Trance prophet said.  
  
"Oookaay.." Harper said. "Look, as I've said before, Dylan would never listen to me. He only pays attention to what I have to say when it relates to engineering, and even then he sometimes ignores me whenever he has some crazy plan."  
  
"The Harper must figure it out" the Tyr prophet said.  
  
"Couldn't you guys help me somehow? Give me some ideas? I am doing you a favor, yanno."  
  
"The Harper must do this task on his own" now it was the Beka prophet talking  
  
"Thanks a lot" Harper replied sarcastically, "You want me to do you this big favor, and you won't help me at all." He was getting annoyed.  
  
"Some things, must be done independently" prophet #1/Trance said.  
  
"Look, why don't you guys, just appear in a vision to people in one of those races, and pretend to be their gods telling them that the alliance is a crappy idea."  
  
"The Harper does not understand that we don't practice deceit." Seemingly, it was the Dylan prophet's turn to talk.  
  
"The Harper is getting annoyed that you expect him to do something for you, but yet, you won't lift a non-corporeal finger to help him."  
  
"The Harper is impatient" the Trance prophet remarked.  
  
Harper just rolled his eyes and sighed.  
  
Suddenly, Harper found himself back where he was. He had a lot of thinking to do. Rethinking the possibility of a plan without having to talk to Dylan, he thought of several options.  
  
"I could fake evidence or something else" he thought "but Andromeda could figure out it was fake, or I could use some sorta device to make it look like the goddess of one of the races was against the peace. What the hell am I thinking? Rommie could catch me, though I could make it so, I was the investigator…." Sighing, he knew that talking to Dylan was his only hope. The next day, after hours of thinking, he found himself at the door of Dylan's office, and tentatively rang the doorbell.  
  
"Come in" Dylan was busy looking at some flexis. "Mr. Harper, what brings you here?"  
  
"I need to talk to ya about something, Dylan"  
  
"Oh?" He put the flexis down.  
  
"Well, you see, the nebula aliens came to talk to me."  
  
"And?" Dylan could not help but sigh, as Harper's visions have caused problems such as when he disrupted the signing of a charter, and sometimes neglect on the engineering side.  
  
"Well, they say that brokering a peace between the Iakans and the Ecix is a bad idea, and they feel that we shouldn't do it"  
  
"Why?" Dylan was curious and puzzled.  
  
"Well, they said that if they make peace, they will make an alliance, and disaster in the universe will result."  
  
"What can much worse can it be than millions dieing from endless wars?" Dylan was getting annoyed at the nebula aliens.  
  
" Who knows, but these guys seem to know what they are talking about. After all, they probably have information that we don't have."  
  
Dylan sighed at Harper's willingness to believe them.  
  
"Harper, I gave my word that I would help broker the peace, and as I've said before, my word is the foundation of the Commonwealth."  
  
"But if the nebula aliens are right, the Commonwealth could be in danger later on. Look, couldn't you just postpone it, and maybe the nebula aliens will give me more information by then?"  
  
Dylan just looked at him, with annoyance.  
  
"Come, on Dylan, at least you'll get more time to prepare and stuff." Harper was hoping that with a postponement, he could at least come up with a better argument or proof. He knew that the nebula aliens would not give him squat in terms of more information.  
  
"Are you a member of my team or theirs?"  
  
"What?" Harper was surprised at this question.  
  
"You heard me"  
  
"I'm a member of your team, Dylan, I just help them with stuff, as a side gig."  
  
"For a 'side gig' as you call it, it sure takes up a lot of your time"  
  
"But I haven't been neglecting my duties lately"  
  
"You seem awful obsessed with that mysterious device, to the point sometimes jeopardizing the ship, as you forget to eat and sleep. Rather essential things, don't you think?"  
  
"But I obsess over that during my own time."  
  
"And then you, in your mind, let what the nebula aliens want take precedence, over the saving of lives."  
  
"Come on Dylan, don't be like that." Harper was starting to get defensive. " I do care about the Commonwealth, and saving lives."  
  
"Prove it"  
  
"Oh please, don't give me any of that prove it crap, I've already proven myself. You're just saying that to make me do what you wanna do." Harper was starting to get a bit annoyed.  
  
"Yes you do" Dylan said simply. "I don't think that it's longer possible for you be dedicated to helping these aliens and the mission."  
  
"Dylan, I can't help having visions and visits from these guys"  
  
"Fine, look, your first priority should be the interests of the Commonwealth, not the desires of these aliens."  
  
"The nebula aliens do not ask for stuff, for their own health. They do it for the sake of others."  
  
"Look, Harper, if you don't prove to me that you are dedicated first and foremost to the Commonwealth's interests, I will have to ask you to leave"  
  
"Wha..?"  
  
"I can find another engineer. There would be no hard feelings, but I need an engineer that won't spend his time, trying to appease some mysterious aliens."  
  
"Beka would not let you get away with this"  
  
"Oh watch me"  
  
The idea of having to leave, his friends, the Andromeda, and especially Rommie, frightened him so much, that he said,  
  
"Fine" Harper was not willing to go that far for the nebula aliens. "What do I have to do to prove myself?"  
  
"Help me broker the peace talks"  
  
"But I wouldn't…."  
  
"I'll teach you what I know"  
  
"Fine fine" Harper was not willing to go that far for the nebula aliens.  
  
"Good. Anything else?"  
  
"No. I guess I'll go back to my duties"  
  
After Harper had left, Holo-Andromeda appeared.  
  
" You were bluffing, weren't you?" she asked.  
  
"Yes I was" Dylan said. 


	9. Chapter 9

"I needed to make him reevaluate his priorities" Dylan continued. "By threatening to kick him off, I got Harper to realize that the nebula aliens' interests were not that important."  
  
"It was a good plan" HoloAndromeda said. "But I have doubts about Harper as a peace broker"  
  
"He'll manage, with my help" Dylan answered simply.  
  
Two hours after his talk with Dylan, Harper, despite thinking that the nebula aliens would not talk to him out of anger, found himself in the 'white room'.  
  
"Hey guys" he said nervously, " Sorry that my talk with Dylan did not work out"  
  
"The Harper lacks faith" the Tyr prophet said "but we can improve on that"  
  
"Okaaay"  
  
"So, what do you guys wanna do about the peace talks?"  
  
"The Harper will know soon enough" the Dylan prophet answered. "For now, we need you to find something for us"  
  
"What?"  
  
"You must go to Korkavor Drift." The Trance prophet said.  
  
"How far is that?"  
  
"It's as far as the distance from there to the Andromeda"  
  
"That's a lot of help."  
  
"Go there, and the vision of what you must seek will come"  
  
"and why do you need to find this thing?"  
  
"The Harper will know when the time is right"  
  
"Come on guys, I'm the one who has to bust his butt to find this thing"  
  
"You are not ready to know yet"  
  
"Gimme a break"  
  
"Trust us."  
  
"I do, for the most part, but I don't have blind faith."  
  
"We are aware of the Harper's lack of faith" The Trance prophet said.  
  
"and so you see my point"  
  
"The object must be found, before someone else finds it" It was the Dylan prophet's turn.  
  
"But Dylan threatened to kick me off the crew."  
  
"He was bluffing" the Tyr prophet said.  
  
"What? Damn, I shoulda known. Fine, I'll go, but if I find myself at the drift, with no visions on what to find, I'm gonna be mighty pissed"  
  
"We are also aware of the Harper's lack of patience" remarked the Beka prophet.  
  
So, Harper quickly packed, and went off on the Maru when most everyone was asleep.  
  
Fortunately for him, Korkavor Drift was one of the nearest spots to the Andromeda.  
  
Once there, Harper got a vision, of an abandoned building and its location. So, there he went. He spent, with a scanner, of lot of time searching every nook and cranny of the building, and even camped out there, only leaving to eat. During the second day, however, he ran into Dylan, Beka, and Rommie after he had gotten to eat dinner.  
  
"What the hell are you doing here?" Beka asked angrily. "We were worried!"  
  
"I'm here to find something."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Something that the nebula aliens wanted me to find"  
  
Beka, Dylan, and Rommie just looked at each other.  
  
"They say that it's important that I find it before someone else does"  
  
"Where have you been?" Dylan asked  
  
"At an abandoned building."  
  
"What are you looking for?"  
  
"I don't know yet"  
  
"So, you came all the way here to search for something, and you don't know what it is?" Dylan was flabbergasted and worried, as well as Beka and Rommie.  
  
"Harper, don't you think that you maybe getting a little obsessed?"  
  
"No!"  
  
They could not help but noticed how tired Harper looked.  
  
"Maybe it's time for you to go back to the ship and rest"  
  
"No freakin way"  
  
"This isn't a debate." Dylan said firmly  
  
"This is my decision. I need to do this! Why doesn't anyone listen. I know! Cause I'm just the young immature one. You guys don't respect me." He was getting a bit upset.  
  
"We do" Dylan said,  
  
"Then prove it by helping me find this thing"  
  
"Fine, we'll help you, but the moment we find it, you will go to your quarters to get some rest, understood?" Dylan replied, finding yet again that he had to indulge Harper's odd whims.  
  
"Okay, whatever. Let's go!"  
  
So, they all went with him to the abandoned building.  
  
"This structure is quite dirty. It could make you sick" Rommie remarked.  
  
"Sick, schmick, I gotta find this stuff."  
  
Suddenly, he got a vision of the artifact, it was in the shape of a cylinder, and had many shapes of purple on it. Also, it had a hole covered by a gold door. What lay inside the hole was hidden from Harper.  
  
"Harper?" Dylan asked  
  
"I'm fine. I just got another vision from the nebula aliens, on what it looks like!"  
  
"How does it look like?" Beka asked.  
  
"It's a purple cylinder, with a gold door"  
  
"What's it made from?"  
  
"I don't know, the visions wouldn't say"  
  
"I see" Dylan was getting puzzled.  
  
"See, sometimes the nebula aliens give me visions"  
  
"Oh" Rommie commented with a puzzled face.  
  
So, they search for hours, until, Harper got yet another vision, that pinpointed the exact location, under some floor boards.  
  
With everyone pitching in, they were able to get it out. To everyone's surprise, the object was a mere 45 centimeters long, and the gold door would not open.  
  
"Thanks for helping me"  
  
"So, what are you going to do with it?" Beka asked.  
  
"I'll see what the Nebula aliens want me to do"  
  
"Fine" Dylan, without Harper knowing, gave Beka and Rommie a concerned look.  
  
After they got back on the ship, Dylan and Beka got Harper to go rest for two days. During that time, Harper tried to open the little gold door, without much success. Scanning did not help him much in terms of figuring out what the object was made of. As he was about to go to bed, he found himself in that white room.  
  
"The Harper got the artifact" it was the Trance prophet.  
  
"Yep. What does it do? Does it have powers?"  
  
"The Harper will know when it is time." the Dylan prophet replied.  
  
"Gimme a break. I'm getting just a little tired of your being secretive. I need to know"  
  
"You are not ready. The Harper should be more patient." The Trance prophet appeared again.  
  
"The Harper is tired of being patient"  
  
" We need the Harper to help us with stopping the alliance." The Beka prophet was the one talking now.  
  
"How?" he asked "Dylan is not gonna listen to me."  
  
"You must find a way" prophet B /Beka said.  
  
"Thanks a lot!" he answered sarcastically. "Look, there is more chance of Dylan dying his hair aqua marine than of his deciding not to encourage the peace between the two races."  
  
Harper, then found himself at his quarters again.  
  
"Great" he thought. "Why can't they ask me to do something easy?"  
  
TBC 


	10. Chapter 10

Finally, one day, Harper and Dylan were starting to prepare for the peace talks. He could not believe that he was asked to help mediate by Dylan. Usually, Harper was just on the sidelines doing little things then mingling the best he could while hitting on some of the prettier female diplomats. As Dylan was prattling on and on about various things, Harper found himself in the all too familiar 'white room'  
  
"The Harper is not making an effort" the Tyr prophet said.  
  
"The Harper is not in any position to do squat" Harper replied. "Even after the fact that I told him about my visions and how you guys helped me find the artifact, he still feels that you guys can't be the last word when it comes to diplomacy or how he does things on his ship."  
  
"The Harper must find a way"  
  
"I know! Maybe I can use my handy-dandy mind control device" Harper said sarcastically.  
  
"Corporeal humor will not get the Harper anywhere" now it was the Trance prophet talking.  
  
"Look, I did what I could, don't you guys have some sort of powers? If you could talk to me all the way from a nebula by appearing as people I know, then I'm sure you guys could do something"  
  
"The Harper is the key to preventing the alliance, if it is to be prevented" Trance/prophet remarked.  
  
"No pressure" he replied dryly.  
  
"The Harper must have faith, and think outside the box" They Dylan prophet advised.  
  
"I know! Maybe I can, in the middle of the ceremony rip up the peace agreement?" He said, continuing his sarcasm, and remembering what happened last time. "Not!"  
  
"That is not the way. The Harper needs to find a better solution." The Beka prophet said.  
  
"What?"  
  
"The Harper must figure it out."  
  
"Come on, you guys. Gimme some help here!" Harper was getting annoyed at them again.  
  
However, instead of giving him an answer, Harper found himself back at Dylan's office, with the captain glaring at him.  
  
"Mr. Harper?"  
  
"The nebula aliens appeared to me"  
  
This caused Dylan to sigh, but he felt that he should be kept abreast of Harper's visions.  
  
"What did they want?"  
  
"They want me to stop the alliance all by myself"  
  
"But your not going to do that are you?" Dylan asked with a raise eyebrow.  
  
"I couldn't do anything if I wanted to, and I'm not sure I wanna."  
  
"That's good to hear."  
  
"Why am I helping you if we both know that I suck at this mediation stuff, and you were just bluffing"  
  
"Because you gave me your word. What makes you think that I was bluffing?"  
  
"The nebula aliens told me"  
  
"I see. Well, let's get back to work."  
  
"Let's have some dinner first." Harper said "It's kinda late."  
  
HoloAndromeda appeared.  
  
"What would you two like me to bring you?"  
  
"Sparkly cola and Noasnian sandwich." They had recently gotten supplies at a local drift.  
  
"That doesn't sound very healthy, Mr. Harper" Noasnian sandwiches had lots of sugar, and were made from a cold meat that had more fat than meat, as well as lots of grease from being fried, not baked.  
  
"So?"  
  
"Andromeda, get me lean meat with vegetables."  
  
"Yummy!" Harper said sarcastically.  
  
"and get some vegetables for Harper"  
  
"No freaking way!"  
  
"I need my crew to eat healthy" Dylan said. He was worried that Harper looked a bit thinner than before.  
  
"Fine"  
  
A while later, the bots brought the food and they did more work on the mediation process.  
  
The next night, Harper got another visit to his second home.  
  
"The Harper lacks faith" The Dylan prophet remarked.  
  
"and we can understand" continued the Tyr prophet.  
  
"Look into this basin of water" it was the Trance prophet talking this time, referring to a metal basin that she/it held.  
  
"Uh.. okay" Harper replied tentatively.  
  
In the basin, Harper saw a planet of power, whose conquering exploits made the ones by the Vedrans pale in comparison. He saw a brutal empire that enslaved, exploited, tortured, and killed millions upon millions of people over many systems. There was no freedom, to the point where a favorite government slogan was "Freedom is slavery". Harper now realized why there could not be peace between these peoples within the planet. When the vision was over, he could not speak, he was so aghast, and needed time to process it all. Soon, he was back where he was. He was now aware that drastic action had to be taken.  
  
The next afternoon he went to go talk to Tyr at his quarters.  
  
"Tyr, I need your help" He said, after he engaged privacy mode.  
  
"What is it, boy?" Tyr seemed a bit annoyed at Harper's sudden need to talk.  
  
"I know that you used to be a mercenary who used to do stuff, like kill people. I was wondering if you could, do it once more, and then make sure a certain someone else gets the blame?"  
  
"Why would I want to jeopardize my position on this ship for you?"  
  
"Because the fate of the universe depends on it"  
  
"Oh please" Tyr said "Are you still listening to those…..beings who live in the nebula"  
  
"But last night, I got a vision of the future Tyr, it was horrible. In the vision, I saw an empire, even more powerful than the Vedran one, conquer, and brutally rule a good portion of the galaxy. Millions, upon millions, tortured, killed, in a regime that makes the Nietzschean regime on Earth look benign. I swear, Tyr, that'll be the future if something is not done."  
  
"So you are telling me that if the two races on this planet make peace, they will form a brutal empire?"  
  
"Yep"  
  
"IF I were to help you in your little scheme, what would you want me to do?" Tyr was doubtful, but he was curious, and secretly worried, as Harper looked tired.  
  
"Kill one of the big shots in one of the delegations and then make is so the other side gets blamed. That way, they'll fight like cats and dogs, and then no alliance."  
  
Tyr looked at Harper in surprise.  
  
"You're asking me to kill someone over some ridiculous vision perpetuated by beings whose intentions we can't be sure of"  
  
"Come on Tyr, these, beings as you call them, just want to help, and furthermore, you've kill quite a few people I'm sure. What's one more? All you gotta do is this You kill some big shot, misplant some evidence, and you can go back to sipping champagne. What's the big deal?" Despite the bravado, Harper was having qualms about having to be partly responsible for someone's death.  
  
Tyr just looked at him.  
  
"Besides" Harper continued "The fate of the universe depends on this. You gotta trust me. Come on Tyr, you know how paranoid I am. If I can trust them, then that must mean something."  
  
"I'm sure, but lately, I have been having doubts regarding your state of mind."  
  
"Wha..?"  
  
  
  
"Well, your going off to find some rather worthless objects shows some… oddness, not to mention your little act during the signing of that planet, where you ripped the charter in half and yelled a bunch of nonsense."  
  
"Hey, those objects are not worthless! Besides, didn't you make a scene, when Castalia wanted to join the Commonwealth?"  
  
"But it was for a good reason. The government had slaughtered Nietzscheans, while you made your scene over some vision made by beings who want to shape the universe to their will"  
  
"No they don't" Harper exclaimed. "They want to prevent unnecessary suffering. Come on Tyr, do you really give a damn either way? No! Besides, I thought that you were a good mercenary killer"  
  
"I don't have to prove myself to you boy"  
  
  
  
"In other words, you're not gonna help me?" Harper was disappointed/  
  
"That is correct" Tyr replied "Ask your ..'friends' to help you"  
  
"Aw man." Harper remark. "You're not gonna tell Dylan right.. about what I asked you?"  
  
"There are more imminent dangers in the universe."  
  
"Oookaaay"  
  
Two days passed and Harper found that the peace talks had to be postponed, and this gladdened him as he had more time to think about his options. Also, he was thinking a lot about what he saw. Again, he went to talk to Dylan.  
  
"Dylan, I got a clearer vision of what's to come if those two races ally themselves"  
  
"What was that vision?" He said with a sigh.  
  
"Well,if those guys become all kissy/huggy, then that planet will start conquering other planets, and become this evil empire, that will make millions, hell, billions suffer and die."  
  
"And you're sure that it's the future?"  
  
"It is if we broker the peace."  
  
"How do we know that it is?"  
  
"I just know"  
  
"Isn't it possible to do both?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"What we could do, just in case your visions are true, is to be extra watchful, and make sure it does not come to that"  
  
"But what if the whole evil empire thing happens after we all die?" Harper asked " Cause I wasn't told when it would happen."  
  
"We could tell certain people, about our concerns just before we die"  
  
"What if people, for some reason or other won't do anything about it?"  
  
"We'll just have to take it on faith"  
  
"Come on Dylan, you know that no one gonna do anything about the Empire until it's too late. You're just saying that to humor me" Harper was getting mad "See, no one takes me seriously. "  
  
  
  
" Harper, I can't let a bunch of mysterious aliens dictate my decisions." Dylan was worried that maybe the aliens might have brainwashed Harper.  
  
"Dylan! They're not just mysterious aliens, okay? They are non corporeal beings, who know about the future and want to help us"  
  
"So you say"  
  
"Come one Dylan, we can't have it both ways. Besides, why would a bunch of powerful aliens care about some dumb peace agreement unless it had a big impact in the future for the universe. It doesn't matter to them either way"  
  
  
  
" I'm sorry, Harper, I'll need more proof, before I will change my decision"  
  
"But I had freakin' visions of the future! What the hell more do you want?"  
  
Dylan just glared at him.  
  
"I just don't buy that this is a future if we broker the peace"  
  
"Why just cause it's a rinky dink planet? I'm sure that at one time, Tarn Vedra was just some rinky dink planet." Harper commented."That does it, I can't help you with this Dylan, sorry. Not after what I've seen."  
  
"Harper……."  
  
"You can get Rommie to help you. She'll do it with bells on" Harper interrupted.  
  
"I can, but that's not the point."  
  
"What is the point?"  
  
"I'm getting tired of your need to fulfill the wishes of these aliens, even over the needs of the mission." It was true, and it was irritating him more now as he was rather grouchy from tiredness. Also, he found it odd that Harper would want to try to fulfill the odd requests of these aliens.  
  
"I don't do it for them, I do it for the universe" Harper said, trying to think of something.  
  
Dylan just sighed.  
  
"How in the hell does leaving this ship, to get some mysterious objects and neglecting your duties to work on some device that not even you know what it is help the universe? Huh?" Dylan was getting impatient.  
  
"Come on Dylan, you're always telling us to trust you. Return the favor, would ya?"  
  
"I trust you, Harper" Dylan said "to let some mysterious aliens influence you"  
  
"Don't be like that, Dylan." Harper was getting defensive  
  
"Look, I'm going to broker the peace and that is final"  
  
"But Dylan…"  
  
"This is not a debate"  
  
Later, Harper was working on the device, when holo-Andromeda interrupted him.  
  
"Harper, I need some repair in Deck 22"  
  
"Fine, I'll be there soon"  
  
As he was doing the needed repairs there, the nebula aliens visited him in the white room.  
  
"We have something important to tell the Harper" it was the Beka prophet speaking.  
  
"Don't tell me…one of you is my father.. or mother." Harper asked sarcastically as he tended to see lots of holo-soap operas as Trance mades him watch them with her. She had a knack for predicting the twists and turns of the plot.  
  
"That is not what we want to tell the Harper."  
  
"What is it then?"  
  
"Look, I'm going to broker the peace and that is final"  
  
"But Dylan…"  
  
"This is not a debate"  
  
Later, Harper was working on the device, when holo-Andromeda interrupted him.  
  
"Harper, I need some repair in Deck 22"  
  
"Fine, I'll be there soon"  
  
As he was doing the needed repairs there, the nebula aliens visited him in the white room.  
  
"We have something important to tell the Harper" it was the Beka prophet speaking.  
  
"Don't tell me…one of you is my father.. or mother." Harper asked sarcastically as he tended to see lots of holo-soap operas since Trance made him watch them with her. She had a knack for predicting the twists and turns of the plot.  
  
"That is not what we want to tell the Harper."  
  
"What is it then?"  
  
"The Harper must do his task"  
  
"Tell me something you haven't already told me." Harper said annoyed "Is this your idea of non-corporeal humor?"  
  
"We refer to the task of the device."  
  
"and the peace talks"  
  
"We are sure that the Harper will think of something."  
  
"Why the urgency for the device?  
  
"You are not ready to know"  
  
"But….."  
  
Suddenly, Harper got visions that gave him even more hints on how to work on the device. Unfortunatly, it meant tha the had to redo some of his work as it was based on guesswork and not visions.  
  
"The fate of many depends on the device"  
  
"Okay, Okay, I'll finish it A.S.A.P."  
  
"So, Harper left his repair work to go work on it"  
  
"Harper!" Holo Andromeda called, as she appeared at the machine shop. "What about my repairs"  
  
"The lives of many depend on my finishing it"  
  
"So does my being able to work properly!"  
  
"The repairs can wait"  
  
"Dylan isn't going to like this"  
  
"Dylan can kiss my kludge ass"  
  
She just disappeared, Harper kept on working and working, even missing his shift, when Dylan came in.  
  
"Why haven't you been doing your work?"  
  
"The lives of many depend on my finishing this device"  
  
"and many lives depend on this ship being in good condition"  
  
"That's what Andromeda said"  
  
"What do you know? We think a lot alike. Either you get some work done or I'll have to destroy it"  
  
"What!?!" Harper exclaimed "You're bluffing"  
  
"Watch me"  
  
"Bite me. I'll make another one"  
  
"Harper, when was the last time you ate?"  
  
"Uh……"  
  
"13 hours, 33 minutes…"  
  
"Fine. I get the picture, Andromeda"  
  
That's a long time. It's probably been longer since you last slept, am I right?"  
  
"Yeah" Harper said as he coughed.  
  
After some more talking, Harper agreed to compromise and at least some of his duties. However, the obsession had caused him to overwork as he balanced duties and then the device. In the next few weeks, it started to talk his toll.  
  
One day, Harper was working in the machine shop, late at night, when he fainted.  
  
"Dylan!" Holo-Andromeda exclaimed as she appeared to him in his office "Harper has fainted, I got my bots to take him to med bay."  
  
Soon, he, Beka, Rommie, were all there, as Trance was scanning him.  
  
"How is he?" Beka asked  
  
"Suffering from exhaustion and minor pneumonia, which he developed over the last two weeks"  
  
"Will he be fine?"  
  
"I just gave him medicine and some nanobots"  
  
"Trance?" Harper was walking up as he felt rather weak. "What happened?"  
  
"You fainted from exhaustion, and you have pneumonia"  
  
"That sucks"  
  
"You taking the two weeks off. No work whatsoever!" Dylan ordered.  
  
"What? I can't I…"  
  
"This is not a debate."  
  
  
  
TBC 


	11. Chapter 11

So, Harper was bed bound for about a week, when he was given the okay to be on light duty, meaning that he only worked part time. However, the morning, after his med bay release when he wanted to get into the machine shop, where the device was, he found it locked.  
  
"What??"  
  
He tried to hack into it, but he couldn't.  
  
"Why is this thing locked?"  
  
"Dylan's orders" answered Andromeda the hologram.  
  
"Dylan!!" Harper yelled into the comm. "What's the big idea?"  
  
"The device was jeopardizing your health, Harper. I had to lock it up."  
  
"What? You had no right!"  
  
"I do on my ship. Like I've said before, your immune system, sucks, Harper, and could only take so much overwork. I will have it locked up when you can prove to me that you are healthy enough and won't become obsessed."  
  
"You're just saying that because this project is not for you!"  
  
"No I'm not"  
  
"But I promised the nebula aliens!"  
  
"I'm sorry, Harper this is for your own good"  
  
"Look, boss, I decided what's for my own good. I survived a hell of a long time on Earth without you're butting in."  
  
During the wee hours, Harper tried to hack into it, but the Maria bots escorted him back to his quarters.  
  
  
  
Frustrated, he starting to talk to the Nebula aliens, as he paced around  
  
"Come on guys! How about some help here? A visit would be good just about now, or maybe some visions?" he was annoyed at the whole situation.  
  
"Whoa!" he thought to himself. "Here I am actually, WANTING to have visions and visits to the white room. This is too weird."  
  
A few hours later, Dylan came in.  
  
"I just wanted to see how you were."  
  
"I'm fine, but wishing I could work with my machine."  
  
"Look Harper, I was just concerned, okay?"  
  
"Yeah whatever"  
  
Suddenly, Harper got his wish regarding visitors.  
  
"The Harper must discover origin or artifact.  
  
"You mean the cylinder shaped thing?"  
  
"Correct"  
  
"Sure, how?"  
  
"Look under Tibboh Civilization"  
  
"Will do."  
  
Soon, Harper was back in his quarters with a sighing Dylan.  
  
"They visited you, didn't they?"  
  
"Yeah. I need to do some research for them."  
  
So, Harper started on his research.  
  
At first, he did not find much, but then he started to study the rituals of the so-called Sorceresses, and he found that the cylinder he had was something they used. For what? Most of the guesses were based on hearsay.  
  
Then, another vision started…  
  
He was some sort of young nobleman, who was just about to ride some sort of weird creature, with ridges on its chin, and cheeks, stripes on its forehead, and eyes of a purple color. Suddenly, he feels a woman's kiss. She is wearing a black robe, and has dark green eyes.  
  
"Ready?"  
  
"For what?" Harper felt weird being in this situation.  
  
"Oh I see. You're being coy, now? Fine."  
  
"Just follow me and you'll see."  
  
"Then went into a hidden area of the forest, when Harper realized what was about to happened. As much as he wanted to, he felt funny as he knew that he was actually in someone's else's body, and technically would be 'having his cosmic connection' with someone else's girl. He tried to say that he was tired, but she did not take no for an answer."  
  
Afterwards, they just lay together, when she asked.  
  
"Are you coming with me?"  
  
"For what?"  
  
"To find the great Beacon of the Sorceress Oreva?"  
  
"You mean the cylinder thing?"  
  
"It's not just a cylinder, but a great thing of power"  
  
"How much?"  
  
"More than you can ever imagine."  
  
"Where is it at?"  
  
"Somewhere over the rainbow"  
  
"Haha"  
  
"In the hills of Elrond."  
  
"I see. Gotta map?"  
  
"Yes, but we will look at it later.. For now…" Before she could finish Harper was back where he was.  
  
"Man that was one weird vision!" Harper thought to himself. Two minutes later, HoloAndromeda appeared and told him of something he had to fix, which he did.  
  
A few hours later, the vision continued.  
  
He and Nica, the girlfriend of the person he was playing started their journey. They walked and walked and walked, something Harper was not used to doing, even though he had to do a lot of it on the Andromeda, as there he did it in relative short spurts, and he didn't have to deal with hot weather, or other inconveniences.  
  
  
  
"When are we going to have lunch?" he asked.  
  
"Soon."  
  
Finally after an hour they stopped. Harper eagerly looked as she unpacked the food, but was disappointed to find rather odd stuff.  
  
"Why the face? Isn't Esadan grass bread your favorite?"  
  
"It used to be... but…" Harper tried to think of something…. "I overate one day"  
  
"I understand" she answered. "Same with the Goal salad?" It consisted of seaweed-like stuff smothered with an odd puke green sauce and with some red things.  
  
  
  
"Uh.. yeah"  
  
"However, he did the best he could and tried to eat most of the other stuff."  
  
Later, they ran into a dragon. Harper was very surprised, as he had read about them, but had never seen one.  
  
" I am the Dragon everyone called Roborm. I shall make you both my slaves, as I am in need of some."  
  
"Man this visions sucks!" Harper thought to himself.  
  
Both of them tried to run to safety, but they were caught by the dragon.  
  
Suddenly, Harper was back at the mess hall, where he had been when the vision started. His food was cold, so he went to warm it up. Just as he was about to eat it, he found himself in the white room.  
  
"The Harper must learn from his recent vision." It was the Trance prophet talking  
  
"I did. I learned that if I ever go on a quest, I gotta check to see if there are any dragons to worry about, so I won't be captured by one of them."  
  
"That is not the lesson we want the Harper to learn" now it was the Dylan prophet's turn.  
  
"Ya think?" Harper was being ironic.  
  
"The Harper must continue his research, and stop the peace talks."  
  
"Here we go again. Can't you guys do anything?"  
  
"The Harper knows that we cannot" the Beka prophet took a turn. "You must find one of his kind to help you on your quest"  
  
"Wha..? Wait a minute…I have duties here and don't you guys want me to stop those peace talks? Make up your minds!!" Harper was both surprised and annoyed by the possibility of having to go on yet another quest, for something that did not exist.  
  
" The Peace talks won't happen until you are ready for them to happen." The Trance prophet returned.  
  
"But dragons don't exist"  
  
"They do" prophet/Trance said.  
  
Harper just rolled his eyes.  
  
"Where is this so-called dragon? I'm just curious"  
  
"We will tell you soon" prophet/Dylan answered  
  
"That's a lot of help"  
  
Then, Harper was back at the mess hall, where he got fresh food, and ate it fast, as he was rather afraid that he would get another vision. However, he did not. 


	12. Chapter 12

Harper, back at his room, started to think, and figured that he might as well attempt to get access to the device again, as the prophets did tell him that he should be working on it and he had yet to have any more visions. Something told him that it was very important. So, he stored lots of food, and flexis near his bed, and the next morning at 08:00 hours, HoloAndromeda appeared.  
  
"Harper, you need to get up to start your engineering shift."  
  
"Good morning to you too" he replied. "Look, I'm on strike, I will lay on this bed, and do no work until Dylan gives me access to my device."  
  
HoloAndromeda jus sighed  
  
"Harper, this is no time…"  
  
"Yeah.. it is. Dylan had no right to take that device away from me"  
  
"Dylan was just concerned…."  
  
"Why must you take Dylan's side every time?"  
  
HoloAndromeda did not respond and blinked out.  
  
A bit later, Harper heard someone come in.  
  
"Andromeda says that you refuse to work" Dylan was annoyed by this development.  
  
"Yeah. Until you let me have access to my device."  
  
"Harper, I can't unless I can feel that you won't overwork yourself to the point of illness, and that is not gonna happen."  
  
Soon, Rommie came in.  
  
"I heard that Harper refuses to work" she remarked to Dylan  
  
"Yes he does."  
  
"Harper, your strike could compromise the safety of the ship an everyone aboard." She said simply and firmly.  
  
"Then, give me access to the device."  
  
"We can't do that" Dylan replied.  
  
Soon, Beka came in. They were all surrounding Harper, who was in his pajamas.  
  
"Andromeda told me of the situation." She remarked. "Harper, what's the matter with you? Going on strike for some silly device"  
  
Then, Harper found that a very annoyed Tyr came in.  
  
"Little man, I will not allow my survival to be endangered just because of you insipid little obsession to appease some beings, who want to exert their wills on the universe"  
  
"Hey! That's not true" Harper protested. "They wanna help people"  
  
Everyone just looked at each other  
  
"I suggest a compromise" Beka said. "Why don't you give Harper limited access to the device? We all can make sure that he doesn't overwork."  
  
Dylan just thought about it for a minute.  
  
"Fine. But I will decide the amount"  
  
"Okay" Harper figured it was better than nothing, and he could fight for more time later.  
  
"Here's the deal, you will get access to the device for no more than 3 hours a day."  
  
"That's too little!" Harper was getting mad at this powerlessness. "Maybe I should extend my stike…"  
  
"and get yourself in the brig" Dylan finished. "Look, if you are reasonable, I will give you more time"  
  
"But you can't put time blocks on a genius!" Harper said. "What you are doing to me is unfair!"  
  
Dylan just sighed.  
  
"Look, Harper, I'm doing this for you own good"  
  
"and our survival" Tyr finished, as Dylan gave him his annoyed look.  
  
"Fine, if you promise to increase the time later on" Harper decided that for now, he'd go along with the many restrictions.  
  
  
  
It was 1100 hours and he was working on something, when the vision continued.  
  
  
  
"…. Here is where guest come in and sit. I'll expect you two to have this cleaned every two fortnights, unless there is a guest coming, then you must clean it right away. Any questions?" It was that annoying dragon, who enslaved them talking.  
  
"No" they both replied.  
  
So, he left to take a nap, and as they were doing various chores, they found themselves standing in front of a little guy.  
  
"What the…" Harper started to say.  
  
"Greetings I'm Lugmec. I'm here to rescue you"  
  
"Uh.. thanx.." was all Harper, as this nobleman guy could say.  
  
Before they knew it, he had said some mumble jumble, and they were back in the forest.  
  
"Thank you so much!" the young woman said.  
  
"I heard about your trouble from a bird and I thought that I would help ye. Also, I got a note for ya, lass"  
  
"What's it about?"  
  
"Read it" he said as he handed it to her.  
  
She read it, and she and made a worried face.  
  
"What's the prob?" Harper/nobleman asked.  
  
"It's my mother, she became ill. We must go back." As they were about to say something to the old man, he was gone.  
  
So, they walked and walked and walked, until they ran into a dragon. At first, they were weary, but then they figured out that she was a good dragon, who willingly allowed them to ride on her, so that they could go back faster. During one break, they talked about their search for what Harper liked to called the cylinder thing, and the good dragon just listened. Then Harper heard someone say.  
  
"I'm the keeper of that object"  
  
"What?" he thought to himself  
  
"I see that you can read minds. You mustn't tell anyone this secret, even her. Not for at least a thousand years. The right person must find it."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Someone who will be chosen. Someone who has suffered the worst life has to offer."  
  
"Where is it?" they were communicating telepathically all this time.  
  
"I can't tell you….."  
  
Then, Harper found himself back on the Andromeda. 


	13. Chapter 13

"Harper?" it was HoloAndromeda.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Did you have another vision?"  
  
"Yep"  
  
Later, Harper worked on the device for the allotted three hours that he had, and he made hardly any progress, when he thought.  
  
"Why did I ask where the artifact was, when I have it right here? What a bonehead!"  
  
  
  
Suddenly, he got a visit from the prophets.  
  
"You must find that Dragon called Lia, and seek her council on the object you found." it was the Dylan prophet speaking.  
  
  
  
"Oh I see. I was the one who was meant to get it?"  
  
"The Harper is correct."  
  
"So.. what do I do? Will it help me prevent the peace talks?"  
  
"The Harper must go seek Lia."  
  
"How? Where is she?"  
  
"We will tell you when the time is right"  
  
One day, a week later, when he, Dylan, Beka and Trance were at some diplomatic function on some planet, he got a vision of a cave somewhere in the countryside. So, discreetly, he left the party, and hitchhiked with a university student, who was driving something called an air pod, and he was rather reckless. Finally, Harper was dropped off in an area near the cave.  
  
Once in the cave, he called out "Lia! I was sent by the prophets or nebula aliens to find you. I found the artifact!"  
  
"I sense your good intentions" Lia told him telepathically.  
  
"I seek advice regarding that artifact"  
  
Harper could not believe that he was talking to a real live dragon. She had eyes the color of jade and light purple skin. Also, Lia did not look too lizard like, as some dragons that he had seen in pictures. She had a certain beauty and wisdom about her.  
  
  
  
"What sort of advice do you seek?" she asked telepathically.  
  
" I wanna know what the heck it's for" Harper found himself using telepathy.  
  
"You are not ready to know yet"  
  
"Come on! I was told by them that you would give me advice."  
  
"But not right away." she replied simply.  
  
"So you know them well?" he asked.  
  
"They are the prophets, who are worshipped by many and are scattered throughout many many worlds and universes."  
  
"I see, They told me that they originally came from a wormhole and that some of them immigrated to the nebula."  
  
"I see."  
  
Meanwhile, Dylan went to talk to Rommie at the diplomatic function.  
  
"Rommie, where is Harper?"  
  
"My sensors can 't pick him up?"  
  
"Do you suppose he left the party?"  
  
"Knowing Harper, it wouldn't be a surprise."  
  
  
  
"Where could he be?" Dylan was trying to hide his annoyance with his 'party smile'.  
  
"It's hard to tell. He could have gone to the local downtown area, like he did last time."  
  
Back at the caves, Lia, insisted on Harper's life story, after which she told her own.  
  
"I grew up on a planet called Dala. My family was a part of a huge dragon community. We lived a separate lives from the Gedahous or people, unlike our ancestors who lived side by side with them. We, worshipped the prophets, whereas the Gedahous had their own gods. I had a great childhood, and adulthood. When I was a young adult, I became a keeper of the Beacon of the Sorceress Oreva, which you are in possession of now. I was to keep it until a mistress of magic took it to put in a safe spot, to wait for the right person to take it, and that person was you."  
  
"But why me?" Harper asked.  
  
"You will understand that when the time is right"  
  
Harper just groaned at this response. Why must he wait for his answers?  
  
Meanwhile, the reception finally ended so, Dylan, Rommie, Trance and Beka went to go look for him in the local downtown area.  
  
"Where could he be?" Dylan asked.  
  
"Maybe he went to pick up some women?" Beka suggested.  
  
"Beka, you and Trance search on that side of town." he ordered as he pointed to the right.  
  
"Rommie and I will search to this side" Dylan then pointed to the left.  
  
So they split off to find him, as they had to be somewhere else very soon.  
  
The dragon had her servant, who was a person with blue skin, white spots, and a nose that was odd looking by Harper's standards, cook him some food.  
  
"I hope that you enjoy it. My cook wasn't sure of what to cook for a human"  
  
Harper tasted it, and found himself savoring it. He sat a some comfortable chair, which the dragon obviously had for company.  
  
"This is soo delicious!!" It was a bowl of soup with all kinds of things in it.  
  
" I am please that you like it." She and him were communicating telepathically.  
  
"How can I communicate telepathically with no problems" he asked.  
  
"It is a mystery even to me" she replied.  
  
  
  
Back the downtown area, no one had any luck finding Harper, despite asking around discreetly. Luckily, an old woman had seen him.  
  
"I saw him hitchhike with a young man on one of those fast flying hot rods"  
  
"Thank you" Dylan said, trying to be polite as he was getting more angrier. Not only did Harper cause them needless worry, but he ditched an important function, and slightly insulted their hosts.  
  
"Did you see where they went?" Beka piped in.  
  
"I heard them talking and the little skinny one wanted to be taken to some caves."  
  
"Which caves?"  
  
"There are some over yonder" she answered pointing to the left.  
  
So, they asked around some more and found out where the caves were. They rented a vehicle, and went to look for Harper.  
  
For Harper, things took a surprising turn, when the dragon's servant whispered something in her ear.  
  
"I'm sorry, my son, but I must go. We will see each other again."  
  
"Wait! What about the advice you were going to give me?"  
  
"You are not ready"  
  
"No way!"  
  
"I am sorry"  
  
"How am I gonna do my next mission?"  
  
"You will find a way"  
  
So, she magically disappeared.  
  
A while later, as he was wallowing in anger and annoyance, he heard familiar voices.  
  
"Harper!" it was Dylan "What the hell are you doing here?"  
  
"I came to visit a dragon.  
  
"Excuse me?!?"  
  
"Yeah, the nebula aliens gave me a vision to come here, and I visited a real live dragon, but she had to go"  
  
Everyone, but Harper just looked at each other.  
  
"Don't you guys believe me? Look if the nebula aliens could help me find that artifact, why not a dragon?"  
  
"We saw the artifact, not the dragon" Rommie replied.  
  
"So, you think I made this all up?"  
  
"We believe that you are being talked to by these nebula aliens, but not that you talked to a live dragon." Dylan replied.  
  
"So you think that I'm in this cave for my own health?"  
  
"He's telling the truth, Dylan" Rommie commented.  
  
"So, what did the dragon tell you?"  
  
"She told me about herself, and that her people worshipped the nebula aliens. She was gonna give me advice, but she had to go"  
  
"I see" Dylan remarked. "Harper, what you did was rude. Even if the prophets gave you a vision to come here, you could have waited."  
  
"But she left early." Harper piped in.  
  
Dylan just glared at him. Beka did too.  
  
"Look Harper, I'm tired of you caring more about the agenda of these aliens than about the Commonwealth"  
  
"That's not true. I care about the Commonwealth!"  
  
"Then please try to not to just run off without telling anyone"  
  
"I'll try."  
  
"Don't try, Harper" Beka commanded "Do!" She was angry as she had been worried.  
  
Two weeks later, the peace talks that Harper so dreaded started. Dylan confined him to quarters, as he was afraid that Harper would do something crazy. However, as consolation, and to keep him busy he allowed Harper freer access to the device. So, Harper brooded and try to forget about his worries by working on the device. Then, Harper found himself in the white room.  
  
"The Harper needn't worry." The Trance prophet said.  
  
"Huh?" Harper did not get it.  
  
"There are other ways to prevent this evil empire" now it was the Tyr prophet's turn.  
  
"So, you guys have a plan B?" Harper asked, hopefully.  
  
"We do" the Trance prophet was back.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"You will be told when the time comes."prophet/ Rommie replied cryptically.  
  
"That's a lot of help."  
  
"Just continue on your path"  
  
"You mean work on the device and do research on the artifact?"  
  
"Yes" 


	14. Chapter 14

During the second day of the Peace talks, Harper woke up rather early, as usual and went to the lavatory to shower. However, after he was done, he looked in the mirror and found a surprise.  
  
"What the hell?? I have boobs!!" he exclaimed. Then, he realized that his face was more feminine, and so was the rest of his body. He hadn't realized this before, as he was half asleep when he came into the shower.  
  
"I've turned into a woman!!" he could not believe it. "This must be a bad dream!" He looked some more and found that his new female body had blue eyes, blonde hair, slim figure, among other things.  
  
Before he could yell for help, he found himself in the white room.  
  
"The Harper's temporary metamorphosis was necessary" it was the Trance prophet.  
  
"Are you kidding me??" he was not pleased. "Couldn't you have turned me into a tall, good looking guy, with buff muscles?"  
  
"This is the best way" prophet/Dylan replied.  
  
"This sucks!" Harper found himself surprised by his feminine voice. "How does my being a pretty babe help anything??"  
  
"It will help you for the tasks ahead."  
  
"How?" Harper said without enthusiasm, as he really wished that he could have been turned into a better looking guy, so he could give 'Captain Terrific' a run for his money when it came to the babes.  
  
"The Harper will find out when the time is right." prophet/Tyr remarked mysteriously.  
  
"So what else is new?" Harper asked sarcastically.  
  
Soon, Harper was back at his room, and he called everyone.  
  
"What the hell happened??" Beka asked when she came in. She heard Harper's call, and was surprised to find a woman when she came in.  
  
"The nebula aliens turned me into a woman!" Harper answered.  
  
"What?" was all she could say, as the surprise of a guy friend turning into a woman was quite a big one.  
  
Dylan then came in, with Rommie following him. They were as shocked as Beka was.  
  
"What the hell happened?" Dylan demanded to know.  
  
"The nebula aliens turned Harper into a woman" Beka replied.  
  
"This is just great" Dylan said in his sarcastic way. "Why did they do this?"  
  
"They didn't really say" Harper answered.  
  
"Well, whatever the reason, we have to get Harper some clothes" Rommie, said, being practical. "Also, Beka or Trance must instruct Harper in other.. matters."  
  
"Fine. The talks are off for today, so Beka, you and Trance get Harper some clothes and.. instruction, Rommie, help Trance study Harper's condition; maybe we can reverse it."  
  
"Aye" Rommie replied.  
  
Fortunately, they had not sold off all of the clothes that belonged to crew members who were human women, so Trance and Beka got some of these clothes out of storage, and took them to Harper's room, since as a woman he became taller, with a slighly bigger chest, from having new breasts, hence his clothers did not fit him.  
  
"How about this?" Beka asked. It was a white shirt/leather pants combination with a leather jacket.  
  
"It will suit him." Trance replied. They were having more fun picking out his clothes than Harper, who hated to try on clothes, was.  
  
Finally, they found some stuff that fit, and Harper went to work in some loose pants and shirt outfit. Then, Trance took him to be examined. Rommie was there helping her.  
  
"According to the DNA scan, your DNA is identical as before except for the fact that instead of having an X and a Y chromosome, as human males have, the nebula aliens changed it so you have two Xs." Rommie explained to Beka, and Harper.  
  
"Is there any way to fix that?" Beka wondered.  
  
"Even in the days of the Commonwealth, it was never possible to change a person's DNA once they were born." Rommie replied.  
  
"But I will try to find something. I promise" Trance interjected.  
  
"Guess I might as well get to work." Harper said, and so he did.  
  
Later, he ran into Tyr, who had been on errand during the initial discovery.  
  
He gave a look of surprise, though not too much surprise as Dylan had told him what had happened, then said.  
  
"Looks like your allies have dealt you an odd hand"  
  
"Yeah I guess." was all he could say. 


	15. Chapter 15

Later, Beka came into the machine shop to give Harper something.  
  
"Here are some bras" she said. "I tried to find some that would fit you"  
  
"I have to wear these??" All Harper knew about bras was taking them off women, when he had his 'cosmic connections'.  
  
"For at least some of the time, otherwise, you breasts could sag"  
  
"But I'm only gonna be a woman for a little while"  
  
"But you don't know for how long" Beka said.  
  
"Fine, I'll wear them, at least for some of the time" he groaned.  
  
Also, here's a kit.. For um...menstruation. I have a flexi with information and instructions and the things you will need"  
  
"Great!" Harper said in his groaning voice.  
  
"Welcome to womanhood!" Beka said, jokingly.  
  
Days later, the talks had finished and Dylan went to see Harper in the machine shop.  
  
"Har...har...per?.." he sputtered as he turned away.  
  
"What's the problem?"  
  
"You're shirt is partly unbu-buttoned" Harper had left it that way, as his preoccupation with the device as made him a bit absent minded.  
  
"So?"  
  
"It makes me uncomfortable"  
  
"Why? A nipple is a nipple"  
  
"But you have breasts"  
  
"It's not as if you haven't seen boobs before."  
  
"Harper, Humor me" Dylan was still turned away.  
  
"Fine" He did so.  
  
"I just wanted to see how you were doing" Dylan had turned to face him.  
  
"Aside from having my life turned upside down, Life is just rosy!"  
  
"Don't worry; I'm sure that Trance will come up with something."  
  
"Maybe..."  
  
"I have an idea, why don't you take some shore leave? The ship is tip top shape and you just went through something rather traumatic" Dylan said gently.  
  
"I don't know boss..." Harper wanted to work on the device and Dylan knew it.  
  
"It's an order" Dylan said half serious, half in jest. "There is a planet nearby, with a casino, and beaches for surfing. Your mission, if you accept it will be to relax and have fun"  
  
So, Harper borrowed the Maru, and went to Sria, the planet Dylan referred to.  
  
Once there, he did some surfing, to try to get his mind off of the possibilities of an evil empire. After some serious surfing, he went to his hotel room, to change, and there, he got a visit from the prophets in the white room.  
  
"The Harper must steal intelligence from a guest named Gofia, who is an Iakan"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"To cause distrust between his people and the Ecix."  
  
"I see, I make sure I give the info to the Exic guys, and the Iakans will think that they took it on their own."  
  
"The Harper understands the plan. He has to go to planet Uja"  
  
"Is that far?"  
  
"The Harper will see"  
  
"But how do I get help?" Harper did not want to do this alone, yet he knew that he could not ask Beka or Trance for help.  
  
"Seek and you shall find" The Trance prophet answered.  
  
"Where do I look?" Harper was confused.  
  
"Help is closer than it appears" it was the Dylan prophet's turn to talk.  
  
"Thanks alot" Harper could not help but be annoyed by the nebula aliens at times.  
  
Suddenly, Harper was back at his hotel room. Sighing, he went to go get a drink at the hotel bar. He was sure to bring a gun, as he knew that he would be hit on, and he was the minute he sat on a stool.  
  
"Hey babe... can I buy you a drink?" It was a rather rough looking human male, with no front teeth, an eye patch and a bald head."  
  
"No thank you. I'm waiting for my 6ft tall, android boyfriend" Getting hit on by men was creepy for him.  
  
"I see" the rough looking man backed out and left the bar.  
  
Suddenly, a waiter gave him a drink.  
  
"But I didn't order......"  
  
"It's on the gentleman behind you." Harper saw a man with dark brown hair, same color eyes, and a rather big nose.  
  
"Tell him that I'm waiting for my six foot tall android boyfriend" Harper figured that this would work again. "and give him back this drink. Tell him thanks but no thanks."  
  
Fortunately, that man left eventually. Soon, a pretty young woman, with purple hair and form fitting clothing came to sit at a nearby stool. Harper could not help but look at her for a bit.  
  
"So, what is your racket?" she asked.  
  
"I..am an engineer" Harper replied.  
  
"Mine is being a thief."  
  
"I've done that gig too." Harper said.  
  
"What brings you here?"  
  
"I came to take a vacation"  
  
"How long are ya staying?"  
  
"A bit. I gotta go somewhere for a while."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"For an errand"  
  
"Well, if you need a thief... I'm your woman"  
  
"Well, if I did want some help, what would it cost me?"  
  
She whispered her answer in his ear.  
  
"What?" Harper was surprised at the human woman's request. "You could get any babe you want for free!"  
  
"I want you" she said. "Besides, I love a challenge."  
  
"Okay" Harper figured that it was a great deal as he preferred women.  
  
"Where do you have to go?"  
  
"To a nearby planet. Meet me tomorrow. I'll expect some advanced payment tonight, and remember, there are times when I like to be in charge all the time. By the way, my name is Jilanka.  
  
The next morning, he was half asleep, when he heard her say.  
  
"Breakfast!" she was quite energetic, as she set the table.  
  
"Alright, I'll get up." He said in a groan.  
  
"So, don't we need to buy stuff for this job?" she asked as they sat down.  
  
"Yeah" Harper sighed that again, he was lacking for money.  
  
"I think I have an idea" she said.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"We could do some stripping"  
  
"No freakin way!" Harper did not like to be ogled. Besides, he hadn't had his female body long enough to be able to move it gracefully. "Maybe we could steal something and sell it."  
  
"Or we could pick pockets"  
  
"Great!" Harper was not above stealing, though he had never pick pocketed before.  
  
"You could distract them, while I steal their money."  
  
"Fine" Harper was not looking forward to doing this, but at least he knew what distracted him, so it would not be a hard task "How do we pick targets?"  
  
"We see find the best dressed or most distracted people."  
  
So, an hour later, they saw, what Jilanka perceived to be a good potential victim.  
  
So, just as Harper was going to go do it, he saw that it was the man who bought him a drink.  
  
"I can't distract him!" he told Jilanka.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"He made a pass at me and I told him no."  
  
Just as Jilanka was about to say something, the man walked up to them. She found him quite good looking.  
  
"Hello" he said politly, though he paid more attention to Harper in his female form.  
  
"Hey." Harper felt awkward.  
  
"It's good to see you again."  
  
"Same here"  
  
"So, what are you two up to"  
  
"We are going ...somewhere" Harper answered.  
  
"Where?"  
  
"We haven't decided."  
  
"Maybe I could take you two"  
  
"I already have a ship to go in." Harper did not like where this was going.  
  
"I see. May I at least have dinner with you?" the man asked Harper.  
  
"No, I have a date with my tall android boyfriend"  
  
"You don't have a tall android boyfriend."  
  
"I do too!"  
  
What makes you think I don't" Harper asked.  
  
"Someone at the bar told me that no guy showed up for you"  
  
"Oh"  
  
"Won't you even agree to dinner?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Fine, for now I will accept your answer"  
  
So he left.  
  
Then, Harper and Jilanka went to find another victim, and were able to do a few, thereby getting 1500 thrones.  
  
At the end of the day, they talked about their success.  
  
"Not too bad" Jilanka remarked. "  
  
"No I don't"  
  
"It was awkward for you wasn't it?" she asked " I can tell that you don't really go both ways."  
  
"Not really."  
  
"I got an idea! Let's go eat some chow! I know a great place."  
  
When they came back, they noticed a bouquet of dark pink flowers, with a note.  
  
"Just as these flowers bring beauty to life, so do you."  
  
Harper could not help but groan inwardly.  
  
"That does it" he said. "We're going to that other planet in two hours. I'm sure that we can pickpocket there"  
  
"Good idea" Jilanka replied.  
  
So they went, and did some pick pocketing there. Harper hated having to flirt with men, until Jilanka said that they could distract people without having to flirt.  
  
"Why didn't you say something before?"  
  
"I don't know"  
  
Finally, Jilanka had a plan.  
  
"One of us should seduce some rich guy, and then steal his stuff when we are able." she said "However, I think that I will do it, since I go both ways."  
  
So, she went to do that, and came back late the next morning.  
  
"How did it go?"  
  
"Between stealing cash and credit chips, I was able to get a total of 30000 thrones."  
  
"Great!" Harper was quite happy. "So, how do we split it?"  
  
"Fifty-fifty"  
  
"Sounds fair"  
  
Later on in the wee hours, Harper was awake, while Jilanka was asleep next to him, when he got a visit to the white room.  
  
"The Harper must realize that the man he met was Gofia, the Iaken.  
  
"What?? He doesn't look Iaken."  
  
"People of his race are rare on that planet. He has infomation, and you need to get it from him." The Trance prophet spoke  
  
"Hopefully, this will only require my engineering skills"  
  
"The Harper must get the information and use it to create distrust." It was the Dylan prophet, who spoke for the rest of the time.  
  
"So, he lives here?"  
  
"Yes"  
  
Suddenly, he was back in bed, with Jilanka's surprised look.  
  
"You seemed out of it" she said.  
  
"It was nothing, but I have a better idea about what I have to steal."  
  
"Great!"  
  
"See, I got...some info while you went to seduce that rich guy, and that guy who tried to make a pass on me, is someone I need to steal information from"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I can't really say"  
  
"I see. How will we find out where he lives?"  
  
"I'm an engineer, remember?"  
  
"So I do. Well, enough talk, let's get down to business...."  
  
So they did.  
  
After hacking some systems, he found out where he lived, and where he frequented.  
  
Then, he tried to access the guy's personal computer but it was no use.  
  
"Looks like you'll have to do it the hard way" Jilanka said.  
  
"No freakin way!" Harper was adamant, so he tried for one more day, sent a message to the Andromeda, and groaning, went to plan B.  
  
After getting some advice from Jilanka, he went to a restaurant, where he knew the fellow went to often, and sat in the middle of the restaurant. With any luck, it would not involve anything too intimate.  
  
As luck would have it, he came in, and walked towards his table.  
  
"May I join you?"  
  
"Of course" Harper had Jilanka on call as she was to help him in whatever he needed.  
  
"So, tell me about yourself. What's your name?"  
  
"Uh.. Florencia"  
  
"Mine is Tosoian. Where are you from?"  
  
"A planet far, far away" was all he could think of.  
  
The man noticed that Florencia despite her beauty, tended not to be as graceful as other woman he had met, but to him they were a result of being from a different planet.  
  
"Seriously, though, where is your homeworld?"  
  
" It's somewhere over the rainbow" Jilanka had taught Harper to use that phrase, whenever he was asked about his origins.  
  
"I see" the man replied, " You like to be mysterious. I like that in a woman. Is there anything about yourself that you'd like me to know?"  
  
"I'm an engineer. What do you do for a living?"  
  
Suddenly, a waiter came up to them.  
  
He then whispered to the Tosoian.  
  
"Sorry, but I have to go" he said after the waiter was finished. "Can you see yourself home?"  
  
"Sure. What happened?"  
  
"I have to go offplanet for a while, on an emergency"  
  
"bye"  
  
"Will I see you again?"  
  
"I'm an engineer, not a fortune teller"  
  
So, he left. With that, Harper went to meet Jilanka at the back of the restaurant, and told her the good news.  
  
"Great! Let's do it!"  
  
So, Harper, using the information he had before, hacked into the security system of the building where he lived, and went straight to the guy's personal computer, where he got the intelligence. With it, he will make it look like one ally spied on the other.  
  
Happy, he and Jilanka went to the bar. After a while she had to leave, to steal some money. Meanwhile, a tall dark haired light eyed male Nietzchean, with skin the color of coffee with too much cream, sat next to him.  
  
"Hello pretty face" He smiled.  
  
Harper was taken aback first of all, he still had some prejudice against ubers, and they usually didn't fall for human women.  
  
"You seem surprised" he said "Why would such a beautiful woman be so surprised?"  
  
"Because I'm human" Harper replied.  
  
"Ah! I'm not into all that crap about genetic purity and reproducing my genes.  
  
"Well" Harper said, "I gotta go now". So, he left.  
  
The next day, Harper found out that Tosoian, as he preferred to called himself, had left the planet. So, he, with Jilanka's help tried to get informationt that would get one ally to think that the other was spying on them.  
  
However, it, as they figured was a futile exercise, as they search the apartment and Tosoian's personal computer.  
  
Harper was at a loss.  
  
That night, he got a visit from the nebula aliens.  
  
"The Harper must finish his task" it was the Dylan prophet.  
  
"I know I know" Harper replied.  
  
"The Harper must gain help from a stranger" The Trance prophet now took over.  
  
"Who?"  
  
The Trance prophet, as she did before, took out a full metal water basin, that was used for washing one's face, and something began to appear.  
  
Harper was puzzled, as all he saw was a still image of a woman with metallic green skin and pointy ears. She was wearing gray outfit and drinking some sort of blue liquid.  
  
"Ya mean that I gotta meet with an elf?" Harper thought they didn't exist, yet he used to think the same of dragons, so he figured that they were for real.  
  
"She is not an elf" it was the Dylan prophet again. "  
  
"How do I find her? How is her species like?"  
  
"The Harper must rebuild his teleportation device and now we will allow the Harper to return to his original form."  
  
"Cool!"  
  
"But, someday, The Harper will need to face some of his missions in his alternate form" it was the Beka prophet.  
  
"That sucks!" Harper groaned.  
  
"The Harper's form will return in two days" the Tyr prophet said.  
  
"What about the information getting?"  
  
"It was a test to get you used to your alternate form. We have other plans regarding that planet" the Rommie prophet said, in a miraculous moment of giving enough information.  
  
Before he could say anything, Harper was back where he was.  
  
So, Harper broke it off with Jilanka, and went back to the ship.  
  
Everyone was glad that Harper was back to his old form.  
  
After settling back in, Harper went to the database, and tried to find any sign of a race with green skin and pointy ears, but to no avail, then he went to see if there existed any mythical being with said characteristics.  
  
"Man, all the information and I can't find crap!" Harper was getting annoyed and cranky, as he was tired. He wished he could ask Trance, but she would ask too many  
  
After two weeks of hard work and lots of all nighters, Harper was able to finish fixing the device, to the point where he was sure he could teleport a person again.  
  
Suddenly, Harper got a vision from the nebula aliens: it was transporter cordinates. So, he wrote programmed them into the device. Then, he turned it on, after engaging privacy mode. Suddenly, the same woman with green skin and pointy ears appeared. When she was fully at the Andromeda, her face showed her eye brows being scrunched up in confusion. Fortunatly, for Harper, she had no weapon, but he had his at hand, just in case.  
  
"Who are you?" she demanded. "Are you from Starfleet intelligence?" She did not move as he had his weapon pointed. Harper noticed that she looked young and had a good figure.  
  
"What a babe!" he said aloud.  
  
She just glared at him.  
  
"Look, sorry I kidnapped you an all, but I really needed help with a mission, among other things"  
  
"Who are you?" she demanded to know.  
  
"Seamus Harper, at your service"  
  
Suddenly, Ship Andromeda called him.  
  
"Harper.....There's an intruder!"  
  
"No no! She's someone who is here to help me"  
  
"I have no intention of helping you" the Romulan woman replied.  
  
Meanwhile at Dylan's office, HoloAndromeda appeared.  
  
"Dylan, there's an intruder on the ship"  
  
"What?"  
  
"She's a female of an unknown species, but she is there because Harper used his teleportation device, and he says that he needs her help with something."  
  
Dylan just sighed, "tell Harper and his guest to stay where they are and instruct Tyr to meet me at machine shop 17"  
  
Soon, Harper heard Dylan's voice.  
  
"What the hell is going on?"  
  
"I take it that my transport was not authorized by your superiors" she commented wryly, to Harper.  
  
"You could say that" Harper replied nervously. He was hoping that he could keep her presence a secret by blinding Andromeda's sensors in the machine shop she would be staying in.  
  
"Who is she, boy?" Tyr asked.  
  
"Uh.. see, I gotta do something for the nebula aliens and I needed her help to do it."  
  
"Why?" Dylan asked.  
  
"I don't know"  
  
"You teleported some stranger, whose intentions we can't be sure about, for some beings who want to exert their will on the universe?"  
  
"For a human,you certainly show good sense" she told Tyr, as she liked his distrusting nature.  
  
"I am not human. I am nietzchean" Tyr did not like to be mistaken for a human.  
  
She just raised her eyebrows.  
  
"Where are you from?" Dylan asked.  
  
"From Earth, where do you think?"  
  
"Really? Maybe I should have stayed on Earth, huh?" Harper said in his usual smart aleck fashion.  
  
Dylan just glared at him.  
  
"We are not familiar with your species" Dylan said diplomatically  
  
"How can you not be?" she was getting impatient, as she assumed that she had been captured by Starfleet, who, unsurprisingly enough, in her opinion were using terrible interogation tactics.  
  
Dylan was getting impatient, as well as he thought that she was merely being incoroporative on purpose.  
  
"If you don't tell us who you are and where you come from, I'm afraid I'll have to put you in the brig"  
  
"You will not get any information from me!"  
  
"Tyr, take our 'guest' to the brig.  
  
"But Dylan..." Harper started  
  
"You'll get to visit her later." Dylan answered. "For now, we are going to have to talk"  
  
TBC 


	16. Chapter 16

"Why did you bring her on my ship without telling me?"  
  
"I uh...didn't mean to have her stay long"  
  
"Did the nebula aliens ask you to bring her?"  
  
"Yeah"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Look, boss, do I ask you about every private conversation you have? No! I don't think so"  
  
"This is different, you are bringing someone on my ship, who hasn't been cleared and could pose a threat"  
  
"She's not a threat! Just don't give her any weapons"  
  
"Harper, why is she here?" Dylan was getting impatient.  
  
"I'm not telling. Look, the sooner I can work with her, the sooner she can leave"  
  
Dylan just sighed.  
  
"Look, Dylan, you are always asking us to trust you. How about returning the favor, huh?"  
  
"I need to know who she is and why she is on my ship"  
  
"I'll tell ya why? Cause I transported her here"  
  
Dylan just sighed again.  
  
"Come on Dylan, she'll be gone before ya know it."  
  
"I demand answers, Harper"  
  
"Whatever!" he replied with annoyance, and left his office.  
  
"Harper! We're not done with our talk!"  
  
As soon as he left, HoloAndromeda appeared.  
  
"I could prevent him from seeing the prisoner if you want" she said.  
  
"It's okay. I'll get my information in other ways."  
  
The next day, Molly came to visit.  
  
"I thought they broke up" Harper remarked to Beka, as they were walking down the hall, side by side. "How come I didn't find out until today that she was coming?"  
  
"Well, they rekindled their passion over mail" Beka responded "You should get out of the machine shop more often."  
  
As it turned out, Molly would be taking some time off to be with Dylan. Meanwhile, Harper was busily trying to get the Romulan woman to cooperate with him, but to no avail. However, there were repairs to be made.  
  
One day his shift had ended a while ago and he decided to relax by drinking some beer at the mess hall, when Molly came to join him.  
  
"Hey what's up?" he asked her.  
  
"Not much" she seemed serious.  
  
"Something wrong?"  
  
"Dylan and I.. are fighting a bit"  
  
"Well there is that generational difference" Harper joked, trying to cheer her up. "He is old enough to be your ancestor."  
  
Molly just laughed.  
  
"I know!" Harper had an idea let's combine two of my favorite activates: Yoshidoedoe, and drinking."  
  
"Sounds good. Does the loser or winner of a round do the drinking?"  
  
"The loser"  
  
So, they played, with Harper winning some and Molly winning some. Soon, they were both rather drunk.  
  
"I'm gonna go get some caffeine, as I have work to do soon"  
  
So, she got up, but she, in drunken clumsiness on her way to get caffeine, landed in Harper's lap, and in that moment when she was kissing Harper on the mouth, Dylan came in and saw them.  
  
"What the hell??" Dylan demanded and Molly jumped off Harper's lap, like a cat who just heard a horn go off near its ear.  
  
"Dylan.. I can explain" Molly was feeling very guilty, and got sobered up fast.  
  
"Save it!"  
  
"It's not what it looks like.....!" Harper exclaimed.  
  
" Enough!" Dylan exclaimed. "So, did the Nebula aliens tell you to do this? Uh?"  
  
"Come on Dylan..." Harper was trying to put a word in edge wise.  
  
Dylan just put on his blank face and starting to walk away.  
  
Molly chased after him, but then stopped as she remembered that it would be better if Dylan had time alone.  
  
Feeling awkward, they both made excuses and went their separate ways. An hour later, Harper decided to go see Dylan to get things straight. He did not want him to think of him as someone who would betray Dylan.  
  
"Andromeda, where's Dylan?"  
  
"In his quarters with my avatar. I don't think that he wants to talk with you right now"  
  
"He will when he hears what I have to say."  
  
So, he contacted Dylan when he was in front of the latter's room.  
  
"Dylan I need to talk to you"  
  
There was no answer.  
  
"Come on Dylan, don't be like that"  
  
"Dylan?? Dylan??? Come on. Are you listening?" He knew that he had cut of the comm, so he quickly fixed it, so not even Rommie could cut it.  
  
"Dylan?? Come on! I'm not leaving until you let me explain." Harper knew now that Dylan was ignoring him. "If you don't answer me, I'm gonna sing!"  
  
"Enough!" Dylan exclaimed with great force and anger. "Say what you have to say, and leave!"  
  
"Look, it was an accident. Molly was trying to get some caffeine, and fell into my lap, cause we both had a little too much to drink"  
  
"You expect me to believe that?" Dylan asked angrily over the comm. He had only listened to what Harper had to say because he wanted to get rid of him..  
  
"Yeah. Come one Dylan, I may be a babe-addict, but I would never take babe of a friend"  
  
Dylan did not answer.  
  
"Dylan?? Come on!"  
  
"I have things to attend to. We'll talk later" Dylan answered  
  
Suddenly, Andromeda said, "Dylan, there is a call for you,"  
  
"Put it in my quarters."  
  
So, Harper, disappointed that he could not convince Dylan, decided to go back to the machine shop, when, he was in the white room.  
  
"The mission with the two worlds must be put on hold" the Dylan prophet said.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"We have our reasons" Trance prophet answered cryptically.  
  
"What about the pointy eared babe?" Harper wished that she and he could make a 'cosmic connection'  
  
"Leave her where she is" it was the Dylan prophet again, commanding him to do this.  
  
"But Dylan is not going to agree to her being there"  
  
"The Harper must keep her here for as long as necessary" it was now the Rommie prophet talking.  
  
"Let me guess" Harper was starting to more or less get the pattern of the nebula aliens. "You have another mission for me" he said sighing.  
  
"The Harper must teach others" it was the Rommie prophet again.  
  
"I can't teach!"  
  
"The Harper must teach others by writing a book"  
  
"A book?? I'm an engineer, not an author.  
  
"The Harper's life can be a source of wisdom" said the Trance prophet  
  
"Not many would agree with you there" Harper replied.  
  
"We request that the Harper write an autobiography" remarked the Dylan prophet.  
  
"No one's gonna read it!"  
  
"Books, especially, holo-books make money" it was the Beka prophet appearing for the first time that day.  
  
"I know, but mine wouldn't, unless maybe you guys had mind controlling powers"  
  
"The Harper's book will not require mind control." it was the Rommie prophet again.  
  
Harper did not like the idea of writing a book, as his skill lay with technical matters.  
  
While he did, for a time have plans to do a video autobiography, especially when he made his device to destroy all those Nietzchean ships at Witchhead Nebula, he never meant to write a book, especially, about his life on Earth; to do this would mean resurfacing painful memories.  
  
  
  
"Look, guys, I don't want to write a book about my life, okay?"  
  
"If the Harper writes and makes money off a book regarding his slavery, it will be a blow against his slavers" Said the Trance prophet. "And it will show the injustices of Nietzchean slavery"  
  
Harper thought about this and couldn't help but agree with this. He may not agree with the teaching side of things, but he liked what the Trance prophet said.  
  
After what seemed like seconds later, he was back at the ship, and went to his quarters to think about what the Trance prophet said. The idea of making money  
  
Two days of thinking later, Harper thought that he'd give it a try. It would not be easy, but he would write about his time on Earth on part of his autobiography.  
  
So, he started to make some attempts.  
  
  
  
"Once upon a time..." he started, then erased on the flexi. Sighing, he tried to think of a way to begin his autobiography.  
  
  
  
"It was yet another sucky winter on Earth the day that Seamus Zelasny Harper was born...." This beginning seemed to show some promise, in Harper's eyes.  
  
After several attempts to fix the first passable,beginning sentence he had, he came up with something decent, and from there writing about his childhood, and stop before he would have to write about his parents' death. So, after a cursory look at what he wrote, he felt good and went to see Tyr the next day.  
  
"Hey Tyr!" he said as he saw the man pumping iron in one of the ship's exercise rooms. He was laying down lifting two relatively small dumb bells.  
  
"What is it boy?" Tyr did not like to be interupted, as he was in a middle of a set.  
  
"I decided to write my autobiography and I would like you to help me with it"  
  
"Boy, I have better things to do than to help you in your exercise in vanity" He was still slowing moving his arms and the dumbells at the same pace he was before Harper came in.  
  
"This from the guy who works out at all hours?" Harper had a copy of the first chatper, in a flexi.  
  
"Why don't you ask Dylan?" Tyr asked facetiously.  
  
"You know why"  
  
"It's never good to go after the mate of a leader, whose good graces you are ataining to obtain"  
  
"Come on Tyr, she's the one who kissed me!"  
  
"Oh yes" Tyr said, with a smile "Both of you were intoxicated, and she just accidentally fell and kissed you"  
  
"I would never do that to Dylan!" Harper was getting indignant"  
  
"Frankly I am not concerned" Tyr said matter-of-factly.  
  
  
  
TBC 


	17. Chapter 17

Sighing, Harper went back to his quarters and tried to work on his book, but found he had writer's block. So, He decided to spend the evening reading holonovels. As soon as he fell asleep, Trance woke up up, calling him over the com.

"Harper! Your guest went into a coma!"

"Oh crap! I needed her help!" Harper exclaimed. "Anything you can do?"

"I'm studying her biochemistry, I'll keep you informed."

"Anything I can do?"

"Not for now"

Harper, robbed of his sleepiness, went to the machineshop to do this and that, and wait for news on  the pointy eared babe. Hours later he slept for some time, than awoke to Beka's voice over the comm. 

"Harper! I need to talk to you in the Maru! Now!" 

"Okay" he replied. "Aww man!"

"What the hell were you thinking?" she asked him when he arrived. "Do that to Dylan??"

"I didn't mean to we were both drunk, look, I didn't say anything when you spent the night with that……weird guy….after too much drinking"

"That's different, he wasn't involved with one of my good friends."

Suddenly, Trance piped up on the comm..

"Harper, I have good  news and bad news about your guest. She's pulled through, but doesn't know who she is"

"Oh Crap!" Harper yelled "Although…this could be advantageous…"

"Harper!" Beka exclaimed as she cuffed him on the head.

Meanwhile, at Med Bay, a green skinned pointy eared women looked at Trance in confusion.

"Who am I?" she asked. "What is this place?

TBC


	18. Chapter 18

"You're on the Andromeda Ascendant" Harper told her, tenativly. "I'm Seamus Harper"  
  
"What do you want from me?" she asked, giving him a glare of ice.  
  
"Look" Harper realized he had to get tough "If you want to return home, you'll have to help me"  
  
"What help do you need?" she needed to figure the annoying little human out.  
  
Before Harper could say anything, he found himself in the white Room again.  
  
"The Harper must travel" The Trance/nebula alien told him.  
  
"Where?" Harper's puzzlement showed in his frown.  
  
"You will know when the time comes. Go to the transporter with her" The Tyr nebula alien ordered, and Harper found himself back at Medlab.  
  
"Again, what do you need?"  
  
"Come with me" Harper led to where he had the transporter, as he held a gauss gun.  
  
When they got their, the engineer had the transport coordinates in his head, cortesy of the nebula aliens. Quickly, he programmed them and their beamed off the Andromeda. After an odd feeling of nothingness mixed with everywhere ness, they found themselves in some sort of empty beach.  
  
"Cool! I'm really gonna like this mission" Harper smiled wildly, while still firmly making sure that the Romulan could not escape.  
  
"Why have you taken me to Risa?" The Romulan, with her keen eyesight, saw signs giving that fact away.  
  
"Risa..? Oh yeah. I have my reasons." Harper didn't want to reveal that he had no idea why he was here. "Let's go, before someone sees us"  
  
The Romulan woman could not understand what this obnoxious human was getting at. First he kidnaps her, then he takes her to a public place in Risa being the luxurious, pleasure, and tourist planet that it was.  
  
Seeing someone coming, Harper made a sign and they hid behind a rock.  
  
"I've got a plan" she told him."We could say that I'm Vulcan" Romulans easily could pass for Vulcans, as both species were very related physiologically, even getting many of the same rare diseases.  
  
"And they'd believe you?" Harper bluffed; he didn't know what the hell she spoke of.  
  
"Yes. You could be my human mate. It's better to hide out in the open"  
  
"Fine, but if you screw things up........" Harper warned, giving her a quick shock with the force lance. He didn't trust her.  
  
As soon as the person was out of sight, they discreetly stole clothes laying on the sand. Quickly, they put the clothes on; the Romulan woman kept giving Harper cold glances, whenever he tried to sneak a peek. Soon, Harper, in a sandy area, with chairs, tables, near the beach but no people, he noticed some sort of auto chef device. He realized that the nebula aliens had given him the ability to speak the local language.  
  
"Stand guard" he ordered her. With his usual deftness, he hacked into the main computer system of Risa. Every system was interconnected somehow. He found out that yes he was in Risa, which was part of the United Federation of Planets.  
  
"Weird" he thought. "They don't use money" After obtaining food for himself and the Romulan woman, he did some more programming manipulation telling her.  
  
"Guess what? We've got a room!"  
  
"Fine"  
  
tbc 


	19. Chapter 19

Some time later, after they had settled in their room,, Harper decided that they should eat and went to look for place. To the Romulan woman's chagrin, he chose a Klingon restaurant. She noticed various familiar races andorians, humans, Bolians, Klingons, etc. The décor was darkish, simple, rustic and well, Klingon. After sitting down somewhere in the half twilight, a chubby Klingon, with a curly beard came to serve them.  
  
"What would you like?" the server asked.  
  
"What's today special?" He asked as a way to cover his ignorance.  
  
"Gah and bloodwine"  
  
"huh..oh yea.I'll one of those.." He figured that the blood part was an adjective.  
  
"Same here" All the Vulcan woman could do was make an inward grimace, and avoid trouble.  
  
"Two orders of Gah and bloodwine coming up!"  
  
After a while a bottle of bloodwine was put on the table with a couple of rustic cups.  
  
"Uhggg!!!" Harper wrinkled his nose in disgust when he took a whiff of his drink. "We got spoiled wine!"  
  
"It's blood wine"She didn't understand his complaint, figuring he liked what she considered to be a putrid beverage.  
  
"So! "Harper retorted "Waiter?"  
  
The server turned around, as the place was empty and he was occupied with side work.  
  
"The wine stinks!"  
  
"What?" the server grabbed the bottle and smelled it. "Pah! This wine was bottled at a terrible year! Someone must have overlooked it. My apologies sir" With that he took the bottle away, impressed as he was under the impression that that human had a fine sense of taste regarding blood wine.  
  
Soon, the gah arrived, as did the wine. When it was set down, Harper's eyes widened. The little worm-like things were still moving!!!  
  
"Uhhhhggggggg" This had happened to Harper before, ordering something and finding it was not as appetizing as it sounded. He wrinkled his nose. "Why did you order Gah if you wouldn't like it?" she asked  
  
"This place doesn't have the.right breed of Gah" He took a sip from the wine, but again, it tasted rancid."What do they put in this stuff??" Disgust took over his face.  
  
"Targ blood I suppose" the Romulan woman replied dryly.  
  
"Hahaha very funny" Harper thought she was joking. 


End file.
